The Daughter of the Wolf and The Devil's Dandy
by Eponinefan24601
Summary: Montparnasse is completely in love with Éponine and is tired of watching her pine over Marius. What will it take for Éponine to realize what's right for her? (Modern AU) Éponine/Montparnasse, Éponine/Marius (one sided), Éponine&Grantaire as friends Marius/Cosette
1. Chapter 1

"Éponine, get on lookout if you know what's best for you!" Monsieur Thénardier demanded pulling his daughter's thin arm as she stared off into the distance. She jumped a bit and looked at him apologetically. "Sorry, I zoned out." She muttered

"We ain't got time for that, 'Ponine, if you ever want to eat again." He shouted, pushing her behind a brick building. She stumbled back, almost falling on the pavement. "Now you'd best look out for the police." He warned, pointing a bony finger at her and then rushing back to the scene of the robbery, leaving her alone behind the wall.

She sighed exasperatedly and started singing under her breath out of boredom, half looking out for Javert or some other officer.

"You're a little sharp," a velvety voice crooned behind her. Montparnasse. She turned around and glared at him coldly.

"What are you doing here, 'Parnasse?" She scowled, stepping away from him.

"No need to be vile, Ép. I was only giving you some helpful tips," he teased, straightening his jacket, "And your father put me on lookout. Again." He added scornfully.

"Well, you've gotta pay your dues, y'know." Éponine muttered, looking in the direction of the square where Marius might be.

"What are you doing?" Montparnasse asked, raising an eyebrow, "you don't have to look so hard you know. You'll see the police if they come." He thought for a second, "or are you looking for that student boy again?" He asked, chuckling bitterly.

She turned her head sharply. "What are you talking about?" She barked.

"Pontmercy. Oh, Éponine, you don't think I know all about that?" Mont laughed coldly, "Don't lie to me. You know I don't like that."

She grabbed his arm firmly and hissed, "Don't talk about it ever again."

He pushed her off with ease and swiftly pinned her against the building.

"Don't play with me." He warned, leaning in so close she could feel his breath, "and don't let him play you. I know his type."

"He's not playing me. He doesn't even like me that way. And Marius isn't like that." She argued, spitting in his face. He backed away.

"Play nice, Ép."

She scowled and walked back over to the end of the building so she could keep watching out for the police. He stood against the wall, crossing his arms. As they were standing like this, Thénardier walked behind the building, laughing.

"Oh we got him good." He cackled, putting a hand on Éponine's shoulder. She struggled out of his grip and sprinted away.

"What's her problem?" Thénardier asked, turning around to Mont.

"Nothing. She's just a brat is all." Montparnasse rolled his eyes.

Éponine half-jogged to the café where Marius and their friends were meeting. She stood outside the café, standing on her tippy-toes looking out for Marius. Grantaire slipped out of the café.

"Don't be so obvious, 'Ponine," he teased, leaning against the wall.

"Shut up," she grunted, though she took his advice and leaned against the wall with him.

"Cigarette?" He asked, pulling out a box. She nodded wordlessly and lit up.

"How're you doing, R?" She asked

"Fucking wonderful," he deadpanned, "and what about you? I saw you with Mont today."

"Don't tell Marius." She warned, turning to him seriously.

"I don't know, 'Ponine," Grantaire teased, "You know how much Marius loves Mont." He added annoyingly.

"He's gonna yell at me again about my safety." She groaned, laughing.

"Don't act like you don't love it."

"I don't love it."

"Please, you'd take any chance to talk to him."

She glared at him, "you're such an asshole."

"I'm a fun asshole." He laughed.

"There's no such thing."

There was a moment of silence, followed by both of them bursting with laughter.

"But seriously, 'Ponine," he warned, "if Marius somehow finds out-"

"He won't," she asserted, "will he?"

Grantaire laughed "I don't know. If you piss me off, I'll tell him. If I get wasted I might tell him."

"So, basically you're telling him no matter what?"

"Yeah. Pretty much." He laughed

"Ugh," she groaned, but sprang up from the wall when she saw Marius coming.

"Marius!" She grinned, bouncing over to him. Grantaire hung back and chuckled at her.

"Hi, Éponine," he smiled, a bit distracted. He waved to Grantaire. As he started towards the café, Éponine followed him like a puppy.

He turned around and looked at Éponine disappointedly

"Éponine..." He sighed.

She perked up as he said her name. "Yes?" She asked eagerly, not sensing his tone.

"Have you been smoking again?" He sighed.

"Don't worry about it, Marius." She shrugged.

"It's very bad for you, 'Ponine."

"So what? I can take care of myself, Marius."

"I just worry about you, Éponine. You could get cancer, you know."

"Oh well," she laughed, "I'll be fine."

He nodded and continued walking towards his friends inside the café. She stood back defeatedly. She watched him talk with Courfeyrac, all his little mannerisms and all his little features she always noticed standing out.

"Have you been smoking again?" Grantaire mocked, turning up behind her.

"You shut up," she demanded.


	2. Chapter 2

After a seemingly endless meeting consisting only of political rants and debates and other uninteresting things, Éponine waited outside the door. As she spotted Marius leaving, she quickly made her way over to him  
"Hey," she grinned, jogging a little to keep up with him. He didn't respond. He crossed his arms.  
"Hey, what's the matter?" She asked nervously. Sure, he was oblivious but he never downright ignored her.  
"Éponine, are you with Montparnasse?" He asked, sighing angrily.  
"N-no, of course not," She furrowed her brow, "Who told you that? Grantaire?"  
"Yes," He admitted, "and though he isn't much of a reputable source, I saw some truth in it."  
"It's not true. I was with him today, but not like that." She assured, slowing down as he stopped and faced her.  
"Éponine...why? Why don't you just not hang around with people like him? He's bad news, 'Ponine."  
"You don't know him. He's not like that." She found herself rather defensive of Mont.  
"But 'Ponine, he's been to jail. Why do you want to hang around with people like that?" He was getting pretty mad, and she could tell. He was almost never mad, and when he was disappointed in her like this it broke her heart. And it was usually over Montparnasse. But she couldn't tell Marius that she had to spend time with him. She couldn't tell Marius that she robbed with him, and she had been to jail too.

"Stop acting like you're my father." She groaned, rolling her eyes.

"Then stop acting like a child!"

"I can be friends with whoever I want and I can ruin my lungs if I want to."

"Fine, but I'm not going to be there to pick up the pieces anymore, Éponine. Next time you call me to pick you up at some bar at two in the morning, I'm not picking up. I'm done with this." Marius snapped, then slipping away quickly without another word.

Éponine stared at the spot where he'd been standing as tears brimmed in her eyes. I really screwed everything up. She slumped against a nearby building and put her head in her hands. Had she just ruined any small chance she had with Marius? Now he surely thought she was a bitch, a baby, a slut, everything bad. She sobbed into her hands, breathing unevenly and trying to mask any sound her cries were making. But after what had just happened, Marius being gone meant less than it would have just minutes before. Was he really right for her, was he really the guy she wanted? He wouldn't let her live her life freely. He didn't know anything about her, because if he did he would know she was just like Montparnasse, who was "bad news".

Ironically, it was Mont who gently tapped her shoulder nearly an hour later. She looked up at him and scowled.

"What do you want, 'Parnasse?" She asked, her voice still shaking, "to make fun of me?"

"Ép," he sighed, "What happened? You're a mess."

"Thanks," she said sarcastically, "and it's none of your business."

"Come on," he prodded, "I don't want to make fun of you."

"Yeah, you do. You just want me to fail, don't you? Marius was right, you're bad news." She sobbed.

"Wait. I think I know what this is about. Did you have a fight with Marius?"

"Yeah, and it's all your fault for stalking me!"

"Stalking you? Do you think I want to be on watch when I could get the job done fifty times quicker than your father?"

"Marius hates me now! Don't make this about you!"

He groaned. "Oh, Ép. Come on." He held his hand out and as she took it he nhoisted her up off of the ground.

"It's all your fault. I hate you." She spat.

"You hate me? Isn't Marius the one at fault today? And what did he say to you?"

"He said he's tired of 'picking up the pieces' and I'm acting like a child or something like that." She looked down.

"He said that? What an asshole! You want me to get him?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Mont! No!" She panicked, "No, I don't want you to get him! I still love him!" She admitted, tears streaming down her face again.

"God, Éponine, pull yourself together!" He barked. She froze and sniffled. He went on, "He's just a guy, and guess what? You're gonna meet lots of other guys. He's also an asshole. He doesn't know what you've been through, his little rich boy brain couldn't comprehend it. And you know what else? You never had a fucking chance! He's oblivious and wouldn't even consider having those feelings for a girl like you. He's just a close-minded asshole who doesn't deserve you!" He stopped, a little embarrassed. She sniffled again, but smiled slightly.

"You think so?" She asked softly.

"Never mind," he muttered, "alright?"

She nodded, "okay."


	3. Chapter 3

After about ten minutes of walking aimlessly in complete silence with Montparnasse, Éponine stopped suddenly.

"What is it?" Mont asked irritatedly, continuing to walk but looking forwards.

"Did you mean that?" She asked hopefully.

"Did I mean what?" He sighed

"That he doesn't deserve me."

"Jesus Christ, Éponine..." He grunted, stopping in his tracks,"I told you. Forget about it."

"Why would you say it, then?" She asked curiously, crossing her arms.

"Ép, I suggest you shut up now." He exhaled angrily.

"Or what?" She smirked, starting to walk in the other direction. He took her arm forcefully.

"Éponine, I'm warning you!" He bellowed, pinning her against the wall.

"Mont," she chuckled, pushing him off of her and stepping away, "Is someone embarrassed? How sweet."

"Éponine, you don't want to get on my bad side!" He warned.

"You threaten me like this everyday. You're not doing anything, pal."

He knew she had him. He always threatened her about one thing or another, but he couldn't bring himself to hurt Éponine in any way. One time, she stole forty bucks from his wallet and he was enraged. How dare she feel so entitled to what was his? He had rushed down to her father's apartment full of rage but once he saw her he softened. He had softly asked for it back.

"Fine," he sighed defeatedly, "but please don't bring it up again?"

She laughed, "We'll see about that."

"Hello?" Éponine answered her scratched flip phone.

"'Ponine, it's me," Grantaire sighed, "what the hell happened with Marius?"

"Uh," she stammered, not sure if she wanted anyone to know, "nothing."

"Éponine," He exhaled loudly, "Marius told me shit went down between you two. What is it?"

"Fine. He thinks I'm like some kind of lost cause or something." She groaned.

"Yeah, that sounds like what he said. Sorry 'Ponine." He sighed. As much as they liked to tease each other about their respective crushes, Grantaire really felt horrible for Éponine now that Marius wanted no part of her.

"Whatever. It's all over." She grunted, now getting all worked up and starting to cry again over the phone. She tried to stop but now sobs wracked her thin frame.

"No, no. I'm sure it's gonna be fine. Don't cry." He soothed, but he wasn't sure what to tell her. He didn't know what would make her feel better. All he could do was sit there and listen to her cry over the phone, and hearing his friend cry made him want to cry as well.

"No it's not! It's not going to be fine, 'Taire! That little sliver of a chance I had? Yeah, that's nothing now! I hate this." She shrieked.

"Come on, 'Ponine. Calm down. You're better than this."

She shook her head and hung up, throwing the phone across the tiny room in her father's apartment.

"Éponine, what the hell are you doing?" Thénardier asked, storming in.

"Nothing." She mumbled. She looked down so he wouldn't see her tear stained face, but a part of her longed for him to see it. She longed for him to come over and tell her it was okay and give her a hug. She wanted a father like seemingly everybody else had. But all he did was give her a stern glare. She felt it and looked up.

"What did I do?" She asked irritatedly, "why are you looking at me like that?"

"You take up so much space, you know that? You're eighteen for Christ's sake! Why dont'cha get your own place?" He spat accusingly, walking over to her so that he was standing over her. She looked up indignantly.

"What do you expect me to do? I don't have any money!" She shrieked back, fixing her posture so she looked defiant.

"Go live on the streets for all I care! I don't want you here!" He shouted, shoving her backwards. She stumbled back a bit, but found her footing and stood up again.

"What the hell is this? I didn't do anything!" She was furious, but also hurt and confused. Why wasn't she good enough to make her father proud? She did a good job on lookout. She'd become good at deceiving and stealing. She hadn't done anything to set him off, which is why she was so confused.

"I don't care. I really don't. Take your stuff and leave now." He bellowed. She stood and looked at him quizzically.

"I said now!" He yelled. She pushed past him and was angry and insulted to see her mother standing in the doorway watching it all go down silently. Her own mother didn't want her either and wasn't willing to help her.

"Thanks for the help." Éponine spat.

"It's about time you left, Éponine. All you do is take up space. You're good for nothing." Her mother glared back.

"Yeah, I know." She murmured, rushing to grab her things before she started crying in front of them. If they saw her cry, they would be even more furious. She pulled out a few trash bags and dumped her few belongings into them. She felt hot tears running down her cheek and swatted at them forcefully. How weak! As soon as she finished packing, she shoved her way out of the apartment.

"I hope you fucking rot in jail!" She shouted upon her departure.


	4. Chapter 4

Éponine wandered around the streets aimlessly, at this point not even trying to contain her blubbers. There weren't many people around, but those who did see her only gave her pitying or annoyed looks. She wasn't sure where she could go. She wandered into a sketchy-looking alley after she felt her legs would fall off and slumped down against the wall, putting her head in her hands. The sounds of police sirens and yelling had never bothered her before, and she decided she would have nowhere else to sleep that night. There had been times where her father had been drunk and yelling all kinds of threats and she'd had to escape just for a night. She would sleep anywhere she could find then, but she'd give him some time to sleep it off and she'd be safe enough to come back to the shabby apartment. But this time, he had been terrifyingly sober and serious. She could never come back. This meant she wouldn't be so tethered to the gang anymore, but then she still had no way to support herself.  
Before she knew it, it was pitch black and all the street lights were off. She tried many uncomfortable positions to sleep in before finally curling up against a dumpster and falling into a dreamless sleep.  
When she woke up suddenly with a headache and a painfully empty stomach. She had not eaten at all the day before. And now, she wouldn't be having a gourmet meal any time soon. Of course, she had friends with money but she couldn't stand pity. So she never went there.

She was about to pick up her phone and call someone, Montparnasse, Grantaire, anyone really, when she realized she had left it at her father's. And she definitely was not going back there. After walking around the area for an hour or so, she finally knew where she was again. The only landmark to her was the obnoxiously bright bowling alley. This meant she was near Marius's apartment.  
Just a few days ago, it would've seemed like a reasonable plan for her to just go over to his place and say hello. But now that everything was ruined, that wouldn't work. She wouldn't want to bother him with her problems again.

But still, her feet lead her to his apartment complex again. She knew exactly which window belonged to his apartment, the ninth window on the second floor, and she squinted so she could see into it. She couldn't make out much of anything, but she could see a figure in the apartment, not Marius. This figure had long, gorgeous, wavy chestnut hair from what Éponine could see. She scurried over to a bush in front of the building which was a lot closer and helped her see much better. She could see the girl inside almost perfectly now. She was absolutely stunning, her long brown hair, big blue eyes and a healthy looking fit figure. Marius reached out and kissed the girl on the lips. Éponine watched sadly. Of course she didn't deserve Marius! This girl was beautiful! Éponine was a lanky, bony little thing with tangled, matted darker brown hair and tired looking eyes. Of course Marius would pick this other girl over her. She squinted harder, which didn't help her vision much. She tried to tell herself that she should've expected this all along, but her face still fell and tears still filled her eyes. He had finally found the girl of his dreams. She wiped the tears from her already blotchy face forcefully, angry at herself for being so weak lately. Not only had she ruined everything, but now Marius was in love with someone else. She sprinted away from the apartment.

Once she had wandered back to the Musain, she could only find Courfeyrac there. "Hey!" He called out, jogging over, "Have you seen Marius around?"  
She nodded solemnly, "yeah. I saw him."  
He looked at her questioningly. "Where is he? He's supposed to be here!"  
"He's with a girl..." She sighed wistfully.  
"Cosette?"  
The name sounded oddly familiar to her, "Oh. So you know about her."  
"Yeah," he said, surprised, "you dont know about Cosette? She's all Marius can talk about lately! He's been zoning out at every meeting thinking about her. He didn't tell you?"  
"No. He didn't." She said, pretty hurt that he didn't tell her. It only added to her horrible mood. He cocked his head to the side.  
"You okay, Éponine? You look a little off."  
"Yeah. I'm fine. Just... surprised." She breathed. Courfeyrac nodded and made his way back into the café. Éponine would have stayed for the meeting as usual but Marius wasn't there, so what was the point? And would there ever be a point again?


	5. Chapter 5

Though such horrible thoughts surrounded the idea of seeing Marius that day, she felt oddly compelled to see him. Now, not only was he mad at her but he had a girlfriend, too. And she was so much better than Éponine. And she probably deserved him more, she probably wasn't as horrible as Éponine.  
So, against her better judgement, she made her way back to the cafe in time for the meeting. The moment she appeared, she regretted it immediately. Next to Marius, she spotted the beautiful head of wavy, chestnut hair. It seemed the other boys were meeting her for the first time, as they were all crowded around the girl. Éponine jogged over and hung behind the rest of the group.  
"Cosette, you know Marius hasn't shut up about you for the past week?" Grantaire laughed, shoving Marius jokingly. Marius's freckled face was bright red and he looked down with his hands in his pockets.  
Cosette laughed and smiled at Marius. "I hope he hasn't been annoying you." They all laughed. Cosette seemed quite comfortable in the crowd, much to Éponine's disdain. She had worked so hard to insinuate herself into the group and now Cosette had it so easy.  
Marius lifted his head and spotted Éponine. He smiled at her and gestured for her to come over beside Cosette. She was confused by this, thinking he was still angry at her but of course she went over anyways.  
"Cosette, this is my friend Éponine. Éponine, this is my Cosette." He smiled and gestured awkwardly. Éponine tried to appear happy and smiled lopsidedly.  
"Hi, Cosette."  
"Hi!" Cosette grinned, then faltering a little, "Have I met you before?" Éponine furrowed her brow. She had been thinking the same thing. Where had she seen this girl? She looked at her, completely focused. It was pretty quiet, and a bit awkward as now Cosette and Éponine were just looking at each other intently. Marius looked on confusedly.  
"Um, what's this?" He asked quietly, so quietly they didn't hear, or at least they didn't acknowledge it.  
It seemed at the very same moment both Cosette and Éponine realized what they had been thinking of. Éponine's jaw dropped. Cosette bit her lip.  
"Jesus Christ.." Éponine breathed. Cosette shifted on her feet uncomfortably. So this was Cosette? Cosette who had been taken in by her parents all those years ago and abused by them. Cosette who was made to do all the work her parents hadn't felt like doing, and was only rewarded with a beating and the scraps from the table.  
"Um.. I'm sorry." Éponine whimpered, looking at Cosette apologetically. She still felt guilty about how Cosette was treated back then, but she was also livid. Cosette was allowed to go become this beautiful girl? Not only did she get all this beauty and grace, but Marius loved her! And from the way she dressed, Éponine could tell she had some money too

"It's okay, Éponine . That was so long ago. And it was your parents, not you," she smiled warmly, and reached out to hug her, "We can be friends now." Éponine leaned in to hug her awkwardly, though she was still pretty shocked.

Every other member of the group looked on with extreme confusion evident on all of their faces.

"What the hell happened?" Grantaire asked loudly, the only one not afraid to intrude. Éponine turned around and crossed her arms.

"We've met before..." She replied.

Marius intervened, taking Cosette's hand and looking at Éponine, concerned.

"Is everything okay, you two?" He asked nervously. He didn't want his girlfriend and his friend not to get along.

Cosette nodded profusely, "Of course. Just a funny coincidence." With that comment, everything went back to normal and everyone started talking all at once together.

Enjolras angrily stormed out of the cafe where he had been waiting while they all swarmed Cosette outside.

"Come in now!" He shouted, "the meeting's almost half over now!"

Everybody rushed in after that, Cosette included. Éponine hung back. She needed a walk alone to process this information.

But as usual, Montparnasse snuck up on her again.

"What'd you do to your father?"

"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything." She grunted.

"Well he's telling the boys 'it was the last straw' and he's kicked you out. What was the last straw?"

She groaned, "It was the fucking weirdest thing ever. I was just, like, sitting there and be storms in all pissed and kicks me out. And he's sober this whole time."

"Weird," he sighed, "but where're you staying?"

"I dunno" she shrugged, "probably gonna scrape up some cash and stay in a motel. But my dad didn't give me anything to go off with."

"You wanna.. uh stay with me?" He asked awkwardly, lacking his usual smoothness and charisma.

"I'd rather live with my father my whole life than live a day with you." She chuckled.

"Oh.." He said defeatedly.

"I'm kidding," she laughed, "Jesus. Don't cry over there. What's with you?"

"Nothing." He asserted defensively. She only laughed meanly in response.


	6. Chapter 6

After Montparnasse eventually left to deal with some "business", Éponine was left alone again. She couldn't stop thinking about Cosette. How she had everything Éponine wanted. Why had Marius chosen her? Éponine sat down on a rusty metal bench and pulled her knees up to her chest and put her head down on her knees. It was so unfair! She had been pining for Marius for years now and Cosette just waltzed in and stole him. But Éponine didn't hate Cosette. Cosette was obviously such a kind girl, and the way she forgave Éponine was really great to Éponine. She was used to messing up one little job and being punished severely. Cosette had spent five years in misery at the Thénardier's and had forgiven Éponine so easily for everything. So she couldn't bring herself to be mad at Cosette. But she felt compelled to be mad at someone. Who's fault was this? After thinking about it a few more minutes, she came to the conclusion that of course it was her own fault. It was her fault for being the reckless, irresponsible girl Marius probably hated by now. It was her fault for not trying harder to get money for nicer clothes, or some makeup. It was her fault for letting Marius think she was involved with Mont. She accepted all of this and kept sitting that way on the bench, trying desperately to push her mind into thinking of something else but she couldn't. She must've been sitting like that for an hour when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Ponine? What're you doing?" Asked Grantaire. She lifted her head quickly and sat up straight.

"Nothing. Just relaxing. Why?" She shrugged.

Grantaire sighed deeply. "You look pretty rough."

"Thanks, that's really sweet of you." She rolled her eyes, standing up and starting to walk away.

"Wait, 'Ponine." He sighed, "I know you're feeling kinda shitty with this whole Marius thing. You wanna hang out?"

She smiled and shrugged her shoulder. "Sure. What're you thinking?" She asked, walking back to him.

"The usual. We could get drunk and make fun of rom coms."

She chuckled. "That's always fun. Let's do it."

They started walking back to his apartment.

"Any new developments with Enjy?" She asked teasingly, raising an eyebrow at Grantaire.

"Still as shitty as usual." He grunted, dragging his feet a little on the pavement.

"Why? Did you do something stupid drunk again?"

"Yeah. I think so." He groaned.

"You've gotta stop doing that if you want him to like you."

"You're in no place to judge. Didn't you just last week throw up on Marius's shoe?" He retorted, laughing a little.

"Fair enough, asshole." She rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but laugh. "That was one time. You piss Enjolras off every day. At least."

"Fine, fine. But yeah, he still hates me." He sighed.

"Eh, just try harder. I'm sure it'll work. At least he doesn't have another lover." She scoffed.

"Oh, Cosette?" Grantaire nodded, "She's really great, you know. She deserves him." He admitted.

"Yeah, you think I don't know?" She hissed.

"Sorry. But what was up with you? How do you know her? That was fucking weird."

"Uh, I don't know. Old friends." She lied.

"Ponine. What is it, really?"

"Fine," she groaned, "She used to live with us until her prissy rich dad came and adopted her. My parents really messed her up. I don't know. I guess I wasn't nice to her either."

"What?" Grantaire exclaimed, shocked, "Thats screwed up, 'Ponine."

"I had no idea." She retorted sarcastically. "And I don't want to talk about it." She added.

"But, 'Ponine..." He protested.

"Shut up, R. I'm telling you." She warned darkly.

He let out a resigned sigh. "Fine."

As soon as they reached his apartment, the mood lightened and he quickly waltzed into the kitchen.

"The usual?" He asked, pulling out a bottle of whiskey and two glasses. She nodded and slumped into a seat at the table, as she had so many times before.

He filled both glasses and passed one to Éponine across the table. She took a swig from the glass. He did the same.

"So, 'Ponine," he started.

"If this is about Cosette I'm not answering it." She cut him off, taking another long sip and facing him.

"It's not. Christ. I was gonna ask.. Well y'know. How's life?"

She laughed and looked at him curiously. "What do you mean by that? I just saw you earlier today!"

He chuckled a little. "Yeah, but I don't know. We haven't really talked. How are things with your dad?"

"Bad. As usual. He kicked me out. How are things with your father?"

"I haven't talked to him. I don't talk to him, remember?"

"Right," she nodded, "I wasn't sure if you were keeping up with that."

"He won't talk to me either. Since I told him I'm gay. He's an asshole anyways." He shrugged.

She nodded. "Ah, I see."

"Did you say your father kicked you out, 'Ponine?"

"Yeah. For no reason at all!" She exclaimed.

"Well that sucks. Where're you staying?"

"I don't know. Mont's maybe."

"Mont? Montparnasse?" He asked incredulously

"Um, yes," she chuckled, "the only Mont I know."

"You can't stay with him."

"Why not? D'you think he's gonna kill me in my sleep?"

"Or something like that." He offered, filling up both glasses again.

"It'll be fine. I know him."

"Éponine..." He sighed deeply.

"Jesus Christ, Grantaire," she groaned, "Why doesn't anyone understand I can take care of myself? I'm a big girl, you know."

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into, 'Ponine. I don't mean to sound like Marius here, but he's a bad guy."

"You don't even know him!" She argued, "He's nice to me." She found herself defending him furiously, though usually she complained about him. Not only did it bother her in the first place when someone thought they had to take care of her, but Montparnasse really was someone she trusted. Even though he was a criminal.

He silently filled both glasses again. She finished hers quickly.

"Can we stop talking about this?" She pleaded, her speech now slightly slurred.

"No. I'm just kind of worried..." He continued.

"Fine. Then I'm leaving." She announced. She stood up quickly from the table, a little bit shaky and rushed out. She couldn't stand this discussion any longer. Grantaire stood up from the table, about to go after her but opting instead just to sit back down. It wasn't worth it. She was faster than he was.


	7. Chapter 7

She was walking in no direction in particular when, of course, she had to run into Marius and Cosette holding hands happily as they walked down the street. She glared and tried to slip away so she wouldn't have to talk to them, but she heard Cosette say

"Marius, isn't that Éponine?" And then she called "Éponine!" Éponine turned reluctant and fake-smiled. She didn't to see them anyways, but Marius would surely judge her because she was clearly a little drunk.

"Hey, 'Ponine." Marius said shortly.

"What's going on?" Cosette asked, trying to keep the mood friendly.

"Nothing" Éponine shrugged. Something about this must've given her away. Marius looked at Cosette apologetically and then turned back to Éponine. Cosette could sense something tense, and stepped back a little, trying to preoccupy herself with the button of her sweater.

"Éponine," he sighed, "are you drunk? You're talking weird and you smell strongly whiskey."

She but her lip. "Maybe a little..." She admitted, trying hard to fix her speech which only made it worse.

"Éponine, it's 1 in the afternoon." He pointed out, annoyed.

"I know," she said, suddenly feeling giggles coming on. She couldn't help it.

"Is this funny to you?" He asked indignantly.

"What are you? My dad?" She laughed.

"Your dad doesn't give a damn about you. And that's why I do." He said, immediately regretting how harsh he must've sounded. She stopped laughing. It only hurt because it was true.

"No you don't," she argued, "you just don't want Cosette to think you're friends with some alcoholic loser. And you aren't. Not anymore."

Cosette bit her lip and tried to ignore the clearly personal conversation, but she could hear every single word.

"Ponine.." He insisted, "you aren't a loser. You're my friend. I'm just worried. You're killing yourself. You drink far too much, you smoke, you hang around with sketchy people... I'm so worried about you."

"You wouldn't care if I died!" She scoffed, turning away. He put his hand on her shoulder.

"Of course I would." He insisted, momentarily turning back to look apologetically at Cosette. Éponine saw.

"It's ok." She scoffed as she saw his look, "you can tell Cosette you'll never have to babysit your stupid drunk friend ever again." She stormed off angrily, though perhaps her unsteady stumbling sort of walk took away some of the effect.

He called after her but she didn't turn around.

"Sorry about that." Marius sighed.

"No, no. It's alright. What's bothering her?" She asked sympathetically. She was so baffled by how Éponine, the girl she had always been jealous of, had become such a depressing creature. Her curiosity was getting the best of her, she really wanted to know what exactly happened.

"Well, I don't know. Everything kind of. Her family's dirt poor, they barely keep up with the payments on this tiny apartment. I know she's got an awful relationship with both her parents and she practically has to raise her brother and sister. I think she's got some other problems too. I don't know..."

"Like what?" Cosette prodded. She still didn't have the full answer she wanted.

"Well she has a drinking problem for sure. And I don't know, maybe she's got some kind of mental thing." He sighed.

"Like depression?" She asked gravely.

"Maybe. Poor girl, never catches a break." It suddenly hit him them how she must've felt when he was rude to her or neglectful. The poor girl just wanted a friend in her lonely life and he could not even give her that. All he gave her was false hope and disappointment. He looked down, guilty.

"That's horrible..." Cosette breathed. She couldn't believe what had become of the lucky, spoiled, pretty girl she used to live with. She had barely recognized her when she'd seen her earlier. She'd become so thin, and so short it looked as if she hadn't grown much more than a few inches in those few years. She had dark bags under her sad eyes and a permanent expression of sorrow. Her depressing face was surrounded by thin, matted, tangled mousy brown hair. Her whole being just gave off a sad, desperate air. Meanwhile, Cosette had grown into a beautiful young woman. She had thick, silky and long wavy chestnut hair. It framed her beautiful porcelain face perfectly, her big blue eyes and stunning smile. Everything about Cosette was light, happiness, goodness.

"I know. I wish I could help her more."

Éponine walked quickly but unsurely with her fists clenched, still bitter about the encounter with Marius. Montparnasse stopped her in the street.

"Ép!" He greeted, gesturing for her to stop.

"What do you want?" She spat.

"Why so vile? God, Ép. I haven't even said anything."

"Fine, sorry. Go on." She rolled her eyes.

He studied her face for a second. "Rough day?"

She sighed defeatedly. "yes. Horrible."

"Oh no, Ép. What happened?" He asked sympathetically, leading her to a secluded alley and sitting down, gesturing for her to do the same. She sat next to him.

"Like you said, Marius is ruining everything." She groaned, putting her head on his shoulder.

"Aw, I'm sorry." He comforted, "I know how much you like him." He added somewhat bitterly.

"And I saw him with his perfect little girlfriend. And then he yelled at me." She whimpered, perhaps exaggerating a little, as Marius had never raised his voice.

"Ugh. What did he yell at you for?"

"Being drunk. I don't know."

"What an asshole," Mont cooed. Éponine nodded in agreement. He could sense she didn't feel like talking anymore. They sat in silence, her head on his shoulder and him rubbing her hand soothingly, for a while. This lasted until she realized what she was doing. She needed to stop, Mont was the one ruining her chances.

"I've got to go..." She said half-heartedly. She really didn't want to, when she thought about it.

"Éponine?" He asked timidly.

"Yeah?"

"How do I put this? Well, I, um..."

"Spit it out, Mont."

"You're really pretty." He whispered, hoping this would get his point across.

"Not funny, smart ass." She scoffed, deciding she did want to leave and storming off.

Mont hung back defeatedly. He hadn't meant it as some kind of cruel joke. He really thought that. And he had now come to terms with the fact that he liked Éponine _that way_.


	8. Chapter 8

Montparnasse couldn't handle holding in these feelings any longer. For the longest time he had been denying them because they felt like a weakness to him. If he even let himself think he loved her, he could never again think of himself as the tough guy he wanted to. But the feelings he had for her demanded to be felt. Every time he was near Éponine, he found himself reading into her every word or action, trying to learn more about her. He wanted to be closer to her. He wanted to kiss her like she deserved, instead of just letting her continue to pine over some oblivious student. But he knew that if he acted on these feelings and she didn't respond how he wanted, he'd be ruined. She'd probably tell his friends and his reputation he'd worked so hard for would be tarnished. And just earlier he had, in a way, acted on his feelings. And he was almost relieved that Éponine misinterpreted and thought he was insulting her. But he couldn't even put his finger on what he loved so much about her. He always admired her endless wit, her resilience, cleverness. But there was something more he couldn't even describe or put into words in his own mind.

He couldn't handle not being able to call her his own any longer. He had his mind set. He swiftly returned back to the scene of the robbery about to occur. Surely Éponine's sister, Azelma would be there. He simply went up behind her and tapped her shoulder quickly. Azelma turned around quickly, excitedly. She grinned.

"Yes, 'Parnasse? What is it?" She raised an eyebrow and crossed her bony arms.

"Azelma. What I am about to tell you, you cannot tell another soul. You understand?" He demanded, whispering into her ear.

"Is it about you killing someone again?" She asked, with an alarming amount of excitement. Azelma had always seemed to almost enjoy and derive pleasure from this life of crime. That's what Éponine always felt set them apart. Not only did Azelma enjoy her lifestyle, she also happened to enjoy one aspect of it more than others. And that aspect was Montparnasse.

"No, Azelma. Something you must keep even more secret, you hear?"

"Ok, ok! Just tell me!" She nodded, her eyes filled with anticipation. She felt so important being the confidant.

"Azelma, don't act like an idiot. It's about your sister." He sighed.

Only a little hurt from his comment, she nodded again. "Go on."

"You promised not to tell anyone. I'll hurt you, kid, I'm serious."

"Yes, yes, I promised! What about Éponine?" She rolled her eyes.

"I... love her." He stated, short and simple. And completely true. Azelma's heart sank. He loved Éponine? How? Éponine treated him like shit, while Azelma always tried to help him whenever he needed it. Éponine didn't appreciate him at all. She was too busy drooling over some rich boy.

"Why're you telling me?" She asked, her expression hardening.

"Well, can you bring it up to her? I don't want to face her if she's mean about it."

"I don't know where she is! She doesn't live with us anymore."

"I know. But I'm sure you can find her somehow." He insisted.

"Fine. I'll look for her, and I'll tell her."

"Thanks, darling." He smirked, pressing a coin into Azelma's dirty hand.

Éponine was preparing for another humiliating night of sleeping on a park bench, finding the one least likely for people to see her on, setting down her few belongings where they wouldn't be stolen. During the day she had left them in a dumpster and could only hope they didn't get taken out or stolen. She got lucky. As she was doing this, she heard familiar footsteps behind her.

"Ponine?" Azelma called unsurely.

"I'm right here. What do you want?" She asked suspiciously. Had their father sent her?

"I've got something to tell you..." She sighed. Éponine stepped closer so that she could clearly see her sister's face in the night.

"What?"

She decided to keep it simple, like Mont had. "Mont loves you." She muttered just loud enough so that Éponine could hear and scurried away.

"Azelma!" Éponine called after her, to no avail. She didn't come back.

Was it true? Did Mont love her? The fact that anyone could love her was new and refreshing to her, but what about Montparnasse? The man she'd been stuck on lookout with for her whole life practically. The guy who she constantly complained about both to his face and behind his back. But she did feel something towards him...maybe. When she thought about it, lately, she hadn't minded his presence and might go as far as saying she longed for it. She found herself constantly standing up for him to her friends. All along she had been thinking how he was ruining all her friendships, all of her relationships. But really, it was her devotion to him that did this.

As she struggled to fall asleep on the hard, cold metal bench, she thought of the endless possibilities now that this had been introduced. If she really didn't feel the same way, she could always turn him down. But she didn't want that. She never wanted to live a day without knowing him. She groaned. She loved Marius, didn't she? And if she ever wanted that to work she would have to stay true to Marius. Even if he wasn't doing the same. She was still holding out for him. So she decided she would have to wait it out. On the day of Marius Pontmercy's engagement, if that happened, she would let herself love Montparnasse. But until then, she belonged to Marius still.


	9. Chapter 9

She woke up the next morning, aching all over from the long night on the bench. It took her a moment to remember, to process what she'd been told the day before. Montparnasse loved her...and just how was she supposed to go on with this information? She also wondered why he had told Azelma of all people. She wasn't exactly famous for being able to keep secrets. She didn't even consider the possibility that he didn't want it to be a secret.

She felt so awkward knowing this. Even though, most likely, he'd felt this way for a while and things would probably be the same, she didn't want to confront him. At the same time, she didn't want to avoid it either.

"Yes?" She replied hopefully.

"Can I speak with you?" He sighed, walking close to her. She nodded looked at him, focused.

"I'm just really sorry about...everything. You really are a great friend, 'Ponine. I don't want whatever's been happening to end our friendship. Okay?"

"I'm sorry too..." She muttered.

"Can you at least try to be safe, so I don't have to worry?" He asked, wincing. He didn't want to set her off again.

"Safe?"

"Éponine, you know what I mean. Montparnasse, smoking, drinking. You need to cut back on all of those things.

"Marius..." She protested half-heartedly. She didn't have the drive to argue it any further.

"Éponine. Please, please, please do this for me."

"I'll try my best, Marius. But you know I can't help it."

"Yes, you can."

"No I can't, Marius. Don't you for a second think I can. You don't understand!"

"Enlighten me, please." He said in a non-sarcastic tone, though afterwards he realized he might've come off that way.

"Montparnasse...he's my friend. He isn't bad, or at least not to me. I've know him longer than I've known you. I trust him." She sighed, though she was again breathless. Even though they weren't on the best terms, she was with Marius and. Cosette was not. This was perfect.

"Fine. What about everything else?" He crossed his arms.

"You don't understand. You never would." She scowled.

"I know. I don't understand what you have to go through, I really don't. But I want you to let me know so I can help."

"It's an addiction, they both are," she shrugged, "that's the whole of it."

"But why would you resort to that in the first place? Drinking is fine once in a while, but when you're getting drunk every day all day it's unhealthy. You have no control of yourself! You can barely remember your name!" He reasoned, starting to pace. In the middle of the argument, she chuckled a little at his pacing, as she always did when he paced.

"That's the point, Marius. It's fun." She grunted. He looked over at her sadly. He understood now, how she didn't want to live her life soberly. She wanted to escape, to forget. He couldn't even imagine how horrible a life one would have to have to feel that way. He knew Éponine was tough, that she'd been through shit. And now he felt like he understood her better. He made his way back over to her and hugged her tightly, putting his head on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, 'Ponine. I really am." He whispered. She leaned into him willingly, and embraced him back tightly as well. His body felt so perfect on hers. It felt wrong, though. She assumed this was because she felt so guilty. He was Cosette's, and did she really need to take anything more from poor Cosette?

"Don't worry about it." She murmured as he pulled away.

"Alright. I'll see you soon, 'Ponine."

"See you.." She whispered.

Grantaire, who was expectedly drunk, slithered up behind her.

"I could feel the sexual tension there" he slurred. She laughed half-heartedly.

"Yeah. Me too." She muttered. Grantaire put his hand on her shoulder.

"When're you two gonna bring it to the bedroom?" He raised an eyebrow playfully. She really wasn't in the mood to talk. She wriggled away from him and walked quickly away.

"Rude!" He called after her, then shrugging and walking back into the cafe.

She saw a familiar tall, thin figure walking down the alleyway. The one person she had been trying to hard to avoid, and now there was no way to avoid him. He had initiated contact.

"Ép!" He called, jogging over to her. He wondered if Azelma had delivered the message properly.

"Hi." She said shortly, then smiling a little. For someone she was trying to avoid, she felt pretty glad to be seeing him. He smiled back, uncharacteristically awkward. She was used to his usual effortless charm.

"Walk with me." He requested. She nodded.

"What's up?"

"Nothing. How's that Pontmercy kid?"

"He's fine. And you can't call him a kid, he's four months older than you."

"Is he in love with you yet?"

"Shut up. You know he isn't." She scowled.

"Does he have a girlfriend?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Yes.." She admitted. "And she's perfect."

"So you love him, huh?"

"Um, that's a little obvious, isn't it?" She scoffed.

"And he doesn't love you back."

"Yes, Sherlock."

"That must feel pretty shitty, Ép." He said, very sincerely. She smiled a little bit and kept walking in time with him.

Suddenly a drunken, menacing voice called through the street.

"Who's this slut with ya, 'Parnasse?" Thénardier slurred, stumbling uncomfortably close to them.

"It's your daughter, you dumbass." Mont rolled his eyes.

"I gave birth to this?"

"No, you didn't. Your wife did." Mont groaned. Thénardier shoved Mont out of the way, though it wasn't very forceful, Mont stayed back.

Thénardier grasped his daughters arm tightly.

"Let go of me!" She demanded, struggling.

"What a little slut you are, my girl. Hold still." She recoiled at the bitter stench of liquor on his breath. He was very close to her face.

"No." She replied indignantly.

"I've got a knife, kid. You best shut up." He chuckled, reaching into his pocket for the weapon.

Montparnasse stepped in again, aggressively pushing Thénardier off of his daughter.

"Go home, Thénardier!" He growled, clenching his fists threateningly. Éponine stepped back cautiously. Even with Mont protecting her, when he fought he was terrifyingly intense. His eyes had a wild look to them.

"You can't tell me what to do! She's my daughter!" He spat back.

"You kicked her out! You put her on the streets with nothing! You hurt her. You have no right to her!" He shouted. Éponine smiled inwardly.

"I made her!" He bellowed, trying to push Montparnasse again but failing miserably. He fell against Montparnasse, who pushed him off violently.

"Get off me, old man." He scowled, turning to Éponine. "Run!" He whispered. She sprinted to the other side of the building, trying to listen to what went down.

"Where'd she go off to?" Thénardier asked, picking himself up off the ground. Montparnasse, realizing how easy this was, simply sprinted to where Éponine was.

"Sorry about that." He muttered.


	10. Chapter 10

After the whole incident with Thénardier, Mont had quickly rushed off to a late-night job. Éponine sulked in the alley. Her heart was still beating fast, and she still jerked her head around frequently to make absolute sure he wasn't following her. After about forty minutes of complete paranoia, she took a deep breath and her heart was back to beating only a little faster than normal. There had been many nights back when she lived with him where things like this would happen. He would get drunk and be terrifying and aggressive. Every time it would terrify her a little more than the last, even though she thought it would eventually not scare her as much it always terrified her. It only got worse and worse as time went on, probably because he had less and less to lose.

Éponine was so relieved to be out of that place. Sure, she was left to fend for herself, but now she was less caught up on that whole life she didn't want to be associated with. She felt horrible about it, but she knew very well Azelma was probably getting even more abuse now. Even though she felt awful about it, she was relieved in a sick way that it wasn't her anymore. Even back when she had lived with her father, just days before, Montparnasse had some way of trying to protect her. Montparnasse didn't do anything like that for Azelma, in fact he would sometimes hurt her.

Once after a long night of drinking with Éponine's father, Mont had hit Azelma. Azelma had cried all night, trying to muffle her sobs so her father and sister wouldn't hear, but Éponine heard and so did their father. He'd gotten right up and hit her again. She never cried when their father hit her often, and Éponine never understood why she had cried so hard when Mont had hit her.

The next morning, Éponine woke up in the alley. It had rained while she slept and was still drizzling. She was soaking wet and freezing. She shivered and slowly rose. She stretched and continued to make her way out of the alley. She did not quite recognize where she was. There was a prominent red mark on her arm. All the memories from the night before came back to her suddenly. And she was filled with fear, again looking around frantically to make sure her father wasn't near. This time she didn't have Montparnasse to protect her.

She felt like she had been walking for hours when she finally reached the Musain. She sat against the building, re-tying her worn combat boots and waiting to see a familiar face. That horrible familiar feeling of just utter loneliness hit her. From time to time, this would happen. Everybody around her would seem to disappear and she would just feel so alone in the world. She would be terrified the few people she cared about would find someone else more worthy than her to care about. This thought made her shake with fear and in the pit of her stomach she felt such utter dread.

So she buried her face in her knees and cried, breathing shakily and occasionally looking up but seeing nobody she knew, eventually just giving up and not bothering to look up. Finally, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She took a deep, shaky breath and looked up, relieved at the contact.

Grantaire knelt down next to her.

"What is it, 'Ponine? What's the matter?" He gingerly reached out and put his hand on her bony shoulder.

She sighed and was prepared to, as usual, say it was nothing, but she knew she could trust 'Taire.

"I just feel so lonely..." She whispered. He nodded knowingly.

"I'm not going to leave you and neither is Marius. Even if he's just your friend, he'll always be there." He assured her, settling down next to her.

"Do you promise?" She asked, with such a childish voice it was kind of heartbreaking to Grantaire.

"Yes, of course. You're my best friend." He smiled softly. She nodded and looked down, picking at the frayed ends of her worn jeans.

"Thanks..." She muttered.

"But, Éponine.." He started, sighing deeply.

"What?" She looked up curiously.

"What's been the matter lately? You've been so...I don't know. You've been so sad this past week." She bit her lip. She wasn't really sure how to respond to that. She had been so filled with self-hatred and dread for the future lately. Nothing had made her happy, even things that usually did. When she saw Marius, she was thrilled as she usually was, but unlike all the other times there was still a part of her filled with sorrow. And she couldn't explain it. Her whole life since the inn closed, really, she'd always been sad deep inside and a little part of her died every day. She gave so much and got so little. She gave everything she had to Marius, she would've sold her soul for him, and all he gave her was a quick distant hello. She had tried to be good enough for her father and that still wasn't enough. All he gave her was a fist in the face and a slurred insult.

At this point, everything was torture to her. Every moment of every day was Hell. And there was nothing she could do to help it. And she hated herself for that.

She broke down sobbing.

"I don't know. Everything is hard." She sobbed. She hadn't quite felt right for a while, and now she had finally come to terms with the fact that nothing was getting better.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, not quite sure how to help her. She was beyond help. Wordlessly, she stood up and shook her head. She had said enough.

"Thanks." She muttered, swiftly making her way away from the cafe. As much as she wanted to see Marius, she thought he might be with Cosette and she just couldn't handle that. And even if he wasn't, she was always there in his words. Cosette was all he talked about. Éponine shook her head and made her way to the alley way. She knew Montparnasse would be there. She didn't know why, she just thought his presence might help.

"Éponine!" He called, forcing away a smile. "Can I tell you something?" He asked. She nodded slowly.

"Your family's gone to Spain for a while. Don't ask me why, probably business." He shrugged.

"Away?" She raised an eyebrow, but she still didn't have the motivation to comment further. She was exhausted in every aspect.

"Yeah. And listen to this: these dumbasses didn't even well their place or whatever. I think it's all yours, kid." He delivered the last part grinning. He knew she'd be glad.

She nodded. "Great." He was about to speak, but she pushed past and immediately started sprinting for the apartment. She just wanted to be alone.


	11. Chapter 11

Éponine had told Grantaire she would be at the meeting that same night. The meeting had been droning on for about an hour, and Grantaire was curious as to where she was. It wasn't unlike her to skip a meeting, or go back on something she said but something didn't feel right to him. She'd been so...broken. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something didn't feel right to him. He quickly rose out of his seat.

"Where are you going, Grantaire?" Enjolras asked, annoyed. Grantaire looked at him for a moment, not wanting to disappoint him. But he just had a horrible gut feeling.

"I, uh...have to go." With that, he dashed out of the cafe, starting off walking and slowly getting faster and faster until he was jogging. Where the hell would she be? He walked purposefully through the dirty streets where he thought she might be. He couldn't find her. With every minute he felt worse and worse. Something wasn't right, and he knew it had everything to do with Éponine. Worriedly, he started calling her name frantically through the streets.

"Éponine!" He called, swerving around in another direction to keep searching. "You out here, 'Ponine?" He sighed exhaustedly. She clearly wasn't out there.

Maybe she was at her parents' apartment. After another restless hour of him trying to find his way back to the apartment building, he finally reached it. He practically sprinted up the rusty, smelly staircase.

He knocked wildly on her door, calling her name. Finally, he realized it was unlocked and pushed inside.

"Éponine?" He called again, making his way through the small apartment quickly.

He froze in his place as he saw her silhouette. She was slumped over the table in the dank kitchen.

He sprinted over and tears sprang to his eyes. Next to her was an empty bottle of vodka and a knocked-over bottle of pills.

"No..." He whispered. "Shit...no, shit." He could only stare with wide eyes. He told himself this wasn't happening. He couldn't tell whether or not she was still breathing. He shook her frantically as tears ran down his face. It was all his fault, he thought. He should've stayed with her. He shouldn't have let her go.

His hands shaking, he fished for his cell phone in his pocket. He dialed 911.

"911, what is your emergency?"

"I-I need help..my f-friend is... I don't know I think she drank a lot and took s-some pills. She's unconscious. H-help please."

"Calm down, sir. We'll be over right away." The lady kept talking, but Grantaire couldn't even bear to listen anymore. He hung up and sank into the seat next to Éponine and kept shaking her.

"Éponine, wake up.." He whispered shakily.

Just a few minutes later, the paramedics rushed in. They told Grantaire to stand back.

"Is she g-gonna be okay?" He asked, watching them intently. He couldn't believe he had let her do this. If she didn't wake up, he'd never be able to forgive himself.

He rode in the ambulance with her. She was alive, but very unstable. He held her clammy hand firmly the whole ride. As soon as they reached the hospital, they rushed Éponine inside and left Grantaire in the annoyingly bright waiting room, pacing. He fished out his phone again and shakily dialed Marius.

"Hello?" Marius answered cheerily.

"Marius? You need to come to the hospital right now..." He demanded, his voice thick with tears.

"Grantaire? Grantaire! What is it?" He asked frantically, pulling on his coat and rushing out of the café. Grantaire heard him on the other side of the phone alerting the others of the situation.

"What?"

"Who is it?" He heard the others say in the back.

"Grantaire!" Marius said frantically, "who is it?"

"It's.. It's Éponine." He answered quickly, then hanging up the phone and continuing to pace nervously. He waited for the doctor to come out and talk to him, but no doctor came. This only made him more nervous.

Marius sprinted into the waiting room, out of breath.

"Is...is she okay?" He asked breathlessly, making his way next to Grantaire.

"I don't know.." Grantaire whispered in response.

"What happened?" Marius asked frantically.

"She...she," Grantaire started to tear up again, "tried to kill herself." Grantaire sank down into a hard, cold metal seat and put his head in his hands. Marius's heart felt like it stopped. He started to cry as well, and sat down next to Grantaire. He knew it was all his fault, he'd been so mean to her. He hadn't understood how hard everything was for her.

"When? Why?" Marius had so many desperate questions. His voice shook uncontrollably, like Grantaire's.

"Tonight. I don't know... She was upset today. I don't know why."

The two man waited anxiously and tearfully in the waiting room. They both felt extremely guilty, like it was all their fault. Finally, a tall, blonde doctor walked over to them.

"Are you the family of Éponine Thénardier?" She asked monotonously.

"Yes. Is she okay?" Grantaire asked, standing up suddenly. Marius sat and watched anxiously, picking his fingernails furiously.

"She's doing alright. She's still on life support, but she's awake. You can talk to her, if you'd like." She nodded, gesturing for the men to follow her. Marius and Grantaire followed her quickly, looking at each other hopefully. The doctor lead them to the room, ushered them in and then left to give them some time.

"Éponine." Marius whispered softly. She opened her eyes a little, but still couldn't manage much more than a squint.

"Marius? Is that you?" She whispered weakly, trying to sit up a little but failing. She flopped back down. She had tubes hooked up all over her. It killed Grantaire to see his strong friend in such a vulnerable state. She looked so weak.

Marius knelt down next to the bed.

"Yeah, I'm here. How are you feeling?" He asked, putting his hand on her pale hand with a tube taped on. He felt sick seeing her that way, one of his best friends.

"I don't want to be here..." She sighed, her voice quiet and weak.

"I know, hospitals are no fun." Marius nodded assuringly, "but you can go home really soon, okay?"

She had meant she didn't want to be alive anymore. That's why she had done this. She didn't want to live another day with that dreadful feeling in her stomach, dreading every second ahead of her no matter what it entailed. She was tired of everything. Nothing could make her better, nothing could make her happy. Even when she was laughing or smiling, her eyes weren't. But she didn't want to say that in front of Marius.

"Okay.." She nodded quietly. "I'm glad you're here." She added, smiling slightly. Marius smiled in response and kept holding on to her hand.


	12. Chapter 12

"Excuse me, gentlemen." The doctor peeked her head in, "I think we should give Ms. Thénardier some rest and you can come back tomorrow." She gestured gently for them to clear out. They reluctantly stood up and looked at Éponine sadly.

"See you later, 'Ponine." Grantaire whispered as they stepped out the door. As soon as they left, Marius let a few tears fall. He didn't want Éponine to see them, it would only scare her. Grantaire looked at him knowingly and hugged him.

"She'll be okay," Grantaire whispered into Marius's ear, "she's a fighter."

Marius nodded and pulled back, wiping his tears shamefully.

"I just can't believe she would do this..." Marius breathed, still in a state of shock.

"I know," Grantaire looked down, "I knew she was having a tough time but I never expected this."

Marius nodded slowly as they made their way down the brightly lit hallway. He was extremely nervous. What if she didn't make the night and he never saw his friend again?

"Do you need a ride?" Marius asked quietly. Grantaire nodded and followed him to his car. He'd forgotten he came in the ambulance. They both knew they weren't sleeping that night. There was such a thick tension in the tiny Toyota. Grantaire hated the solemn silence, but he didn't have anything to say. He couldn't think what to say about anything other than Éponine.

"D-do you want to go back to the cafe?" Grantaire asked quietly. Surely the boys would definitely still be there and he thought his friends might be able to distract him. Marius nodded quietly in agreement. He didn't want to be alone with his fear and sorrow.

After hearing what had happened, the mood at the cafe wasn't quite the same as usual. None of the other boys knew what exactly happened, but they knew Éponine was in the hospital and it was serious. Cosette was there, too, as she had become very close with all of her boyfriend's friends.

As soon as Marius and Grantaire slowly walked in, everybody's head swiveled to the door quickly.

"What's happening?" Courfeyrac asked quickly. He had been worried, everyone had. Marius and Grantaire looked at each other, neither of them really wanting to say. They were silent for a moment. In that silence, everybody in the rooms stomachs turned. What the hell had happened to Éponine and why wouldn't they talk?

"Marius," Cosette pleaded, "what is it?" She went over to Marius and put her hand on his shoulder.

"She's doing alright, I think..." He sighed, sinking down into a bar stool.

"What happened to her?" Cosette prodded, looking at him worriedly. He shook his head and put his head in her hands. Cosette put her hand assuringly on his back and looked up at Grantaire. Everyone else in the room looked up at Grantaire as well.

"S-she...tried to kill herself." He muttered in Cosette's direction. By now, he thought, the words should be familiar to him. He'd been living with it for hours now. But he was still in shock and he still felt like he was about to cry at any given second. Cosette's jaw dropped.

"She did?" She breathed, sitting down next to Marius, tears immediately springing to her eyes. Even though their relationship wasn't good all those years ago, she still felt like she knew her, like they had a special bond. She couldn't believe anyone could be driven to that, even though Marius had just recently told her about all of Éponine's problems.

Grantaire nodded solemnly. Word quickly spread across the rest of the room. Combeferre rose out of his seat and made his way to Grantaire.

"R?" He asked gently. Grantaire turned his head slowly to Combeferre.

"What?" He asked bitterly.

"How did...how did she do it?" He asked. He only wanted to know because he wondered how severe her current situation was.

"Pills and vodka." Grantaire muttered in response. Combeferre nodded and returned back to the other side of the room. There was an uncomfortable silence in the room. Cosette, Marius, Grantaire and even Courfeyrac and Jehan were in tears. Other than Marius and Grantaire, none of them were extremely close to her but they were friends. It was just so shocking for this kind of news to reach the group. They all thought they existed happily and all of them felt guilty for not paying more attention to Éponine.

Meanwhile, Montparnasse was going to be in deep, deep trouble if he couldn't find Éponine. He needed to get into her parents apartment, and only she had a key. He had tried but failed to pick the lock. He was extremely desperate and sprinted all over the streets where she might be. He really, really, really needed that key.

His last resort was to run into the cafe and ask her little rich friends. He really didn't want to do this. They all bothered him with their snotty ways and they gave him dirty looks like they thought he was trash. Plus, a couple of them seemed pretty possessive of 'Ponine and that really pissed him off. At this point, though, he couldn't find Éponine anywhere and it seemed he had to deal with it. Either she was in there with them, or they might know where she was. Musain, was it? He looked feverishly for this cafe until he was pretty sure he saw it.

In the current dreadful situation they were facing, the friends didn't even look up when they heard the cafe door thrown open. They continued to talk quietly about the tragedy among themselves, some of them just sitting silently, some crying.

"Excuse me, gentlemen," Mont interrupted, "and lady." They all looked up at him, irritated. They couldn't talk to this random guy, who some recognized as a sketchy guy who hung around the alleys. Grantaire and Marius knew exactly who he was. Montparnasse, Éponine's scary friend.

"So, 'Ponine isn't here.." He sighed, "do any of you know where she is? I need her."

They looked at each other and then back at Montparnasse sadly.

"What do you need her for?" Grantaire asked, trying to muster some strength.

"Look, kid, I ain't got time for your questions. Tell me where she is, or don't waste my time. You hear?" He took a menacing step towards Grantaire.

Grantaire, with his temper, clenched his fists and stepped back.

"She's in the fucking hospital you asshole." He spat. Montparnasse told himself to calm down, he could be lying or it could really be nothing.

"Why is she in the hospital?" Mont asked slowly, his tone softening.

"She tried to kill herself." Grantaire replied coldly, tears springing to his own eyes yet again.

Montparnasse froze where he was. He couldn't speak, he couldn't cry, he could barely breathe.

"Probably because of people like you!" Grantaire accused angrily, tears running down his face. He lunged towards Mont, screaming about how it was all Mont's fault. He was completely hysterical.

"You're lucky she didn't die! You're fucking lucky! Fuck you!" Grantaire screeched, attacking Montparnasse. He was finally letting out all of his crazy emotions on the topic, his eyes were wild. He truly believed it was all Montparnasse's fault. He must've driven her to do it, right? He threw his fists at Mont's face wildly, screaming and crying. Mont had almost killed his best friend.

Montparnasse wasn't even fighting back at that point. He still hadn't processed the fact that Éponine, his Éponine had attempted suicide. And now the poor girl was breathing with a machine. Éponine had been his reason for living and now she didn't even want to.

"Grantaire!" Combeferre shouted, trying to pull his friend off of Mont.

"Grantaire, no!" He pried Grantaire off of Mont finally. Grantaire was still filled with anger but Combeferre held him back. Combeferre could see that Mont was pretty torn up about all this and really didn't need Grantaire to make things harder. Montparnasse's nose was bleeding, but he didn't pay any mind at all to it. He could only stare forward disbelievingly. His Éponine?

"Is she at the hospital just down route 6?" Mont asked slowly.

Marius nodded slowly, "But I dont think you can see her now." He added timidly.

"Oh I'll see my Éponine when I want." He retorted, turning towards the door quickly.

"Your Éponine?" Grantaire asked angrily, "bull shit!" He called after Mont, who was already out the door. The cafe returned to silence for a second.

"He isn't gonna hurt her, is he?" Courfeyrac asked softly. Cosette, being intuitive like she was, shook her head.

"He wouldn't. He loves her." She assured them. She could tell. Sure he was a little possessive, but his intentions were good at least in regards to Éponine.


	13. Chapter 13

"Sir!" The nurse at the desk exclaimed as Montparnasse bounded into the hospital. She left her desk area quickly and stepped in Mont's path.

"Where do you think you're going, sir?" The nurse asked sternly. "You aren't going anywhere if you're going to run like that!"

"Let me see..." He hissed angrily, glaring coldly. He needed to see Éponine. She cut him off.

"Who are you here for?" She asked, going back behind the desk and grabbing a clip board with all the patient information.

"Éponine Thénardier." He answered quickly, darting his eyes around the room in hopes of seeing her even though he knew she was in a bed somewhere inside one of the little rooms.

"Éponine isn't in visiting conditions right now." The nurse answered quickly.

"Please, ma'am," he pleaded, "please! I really need to see her."

"Sir, we are not going to compromise Ms. Thénardier's health. You can wait in there until she is ready, but I warn you, it might be a while." Montparnasse scowled.

"Let me see that!" He demanded, snatching the clip board from the nurses hand. He couldn't understand any of the doctor lingo.

"Give that back, sir. You can go wait in the waiting room patiently or you can leave."

Frustrated, Montparnasse threw the clipboard to the ground and stormed into the waiting room. He couldn't sit still, he couldn't even pace. He knew the only way to go about this would be to not let himself think. He distracted himself. He tore up magazines, broke toys. He snarled at the other people in the waiting room. He was angry at the whole world. Why had his Éponine been driven to this? What kind of horrible world was this where people like her would do these things, he wondered? He thought about the cafe again. At the time, he had been in such a state of shock he couldn't process what was happening with Grantaire. Now he understood. What had he done to deserve to be blamed for Éponine's suicide attempt? He'd done bad things, well of course he had, but not to Éponine! He'd been nothing but good to Éponine, and only Éponine really. He was mean to Azelma and violent to strangers. But he would never try to hurt his 'Ponine. He loved her, he had finally come to terms with the fact that he loved her a lot. What if it was too late now?

He was furiously tearing pages out of a Sports Illustrated when a completely different nurse entered the waiting room four hours later, holding a clip board as the other one had. She looked disapprovingly at the mess Mont had made but continued towards him.

"Sir?" She asked, "Are you here for Éponine Thénardier?"

Mont nodded slowly. "How is she?" He asked softly.

"She's doing fine." The nurse smiled reassuringly.

"Don't lie to me!" Mont pointed a finger at the nurse accusingly. She sighed exasperatedly.

"Ms. Thénardier isn't doing very well at the moment. I'm sure we'll be able to find a way to help her more, but at the moment her vitals aren't looking perfect. But you can see her now. Follow me." She started walking down the hallway, Mont trailing right behind. The nurse opened the door quietly, entering before Mont.

"Hey honey," the nurse smiled, in a sing-song voice, "how are you feeling?" Mont scowled. He couldn't believe that woman was talking to Éponine like a child. Éponine didn't respond, she only lay still. The nurse checked all of the machines surrounding Éponine, nodded and left. Before she could exit the room, Mont turned around quickly.

"Don't talk to Éponine like that." He demanded, glaring coldly. The nurse nodded quickly and scurried off.

Montparnasse knelt down next to Éponine. It appeared she wasn't getting better, only worse.

"Éponine" he whispered, putting his hand on hers. She could feel it, he saw her face light up as she felt the familiar touch.

"Can you talk to me?" He asked quietly.

"I-I'll...I-I'll t-try." She replied in a hoarse whisper she could barely force out.

"Do you know where you are?" He asked.

"I don't know..." She whispered, suddenly feeling tears run down her face, "I want to go." She whined.

Montparnasse grasped her hand tightly, careful of the tubes on it.

"It's ok, 'Ponine. Don't cry." He assured her, though he really felt like crying himself. He couldn't stand to see his strong, bold Éponine reduced to a sick girl in a bed. He knew she was so much more.

"Is this heaven...or h-hell?" She asked, looking around weakly. Montparnasse shushed her and had her relax.

"It's okay, Ép. You're alive. You didn't die." He smiled slightly, for her sake.

"I-I didn't die?" She asked, crying even harder. He understood. Of course, she didn't want to be alive. She had tried to kill herself for a reason.

"Don't worry, 'Ponine. You'll be happy once you leave here. You won't have to hate living, okay? I'll make it okay, just please stay with me." He pleaded.

"But Mont..." She protested weakly, trying yet again to sit up but not having the strength.

"I promise you'll be happy, my dear. Now you have to promise you'll try for me, please." He looked at her pleadingly. He couldn't live without Éponine, he simply couldn't. Only now the thought finally crossed his mind that her dying would really mean she was gone forever, he would never see her again. Tears immediately sprang to his eyes, and he didn't want her to see.

"I'm leaving, 'Ponine. Bye, stay strong." He muttered, letting go of her hand and standing up. Éponine settled back into a light sleep.

"I love you." He murmured, standing in the doorway, wiping his copious tears.

Mont slept in the waiting room, surrounded by more torn up magazines. He barely slept at all, though. Every time he'd hear any kind of beeping noise from any room, he'd rise immediately and make sure it wasn't from Éponine's room and nothing was wrong. Finally, in the wee hours of the morning, he finally slept for a few hours, uncomfortably slung over two of the cold metal chairs.

When it was eight o'clock that morning, the nurse finally told him he was allowed to see Éponine again.

"How is she?" Mont asked nervously.

"She really is a lot better. She seems to be a lot more animated and, you know, aware of her surroundings. I think she's on a good track right now."

Mont bounded into her room.

"Ponine!" He exclaimed. He had really missed her that night, as he had spent the whole night worrying about whether or not she'd die.

"Hi," she smiled, successfully sitting up a little bit, "how long have you been here?"

"I slept in the waiting room." He chuckled, moving a metal chair, identical to the ones in the waiting room, beside her bed. He grasped her hand tightly and she squeezed his back. He was elated that she had enough strength to do so.

"You slept in the waiting room, Mont?" She raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

He sighed. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Éponine smiled. "Really?" Montparnasse nodded quickly, rubbing her hand soothingly. She smiled wider and for a while he remained sitting next to her, holding her hand tightly as she smiled and leaned forward a bit. The sun shining in through the windows lit up her haggard face. This made Montparnasse smile.

There was a slow knock at the door.

"Yes?" Éponine answered, using all of her strength to project her voice. Marius, Grantaire and Cosette entered. As soon as Grantaire saw Montparnasse tenderly holding Éponine's hand, he pursed his lips and stepped back, letting Marius walk towards the pair first. Éponine grinned as Marius stepped over, her hand falling out of Mont's. She sat up taller.

"Marius!" She grinned.

"You look so much better, 'Ponine!" He beamed, going to her side and giving Mont a friendly nod. Éponine was so elated that Marius had come for her. He really did care! It was still very difficult for her to breath even with the machine and her middle hurt like crazy, but Marius coming made her feel euphoric. Mont grimaced as he saw her thrilled expression, quickly rising from the chair and looking at Éponine longingly.

"See you later, Ép." He murmured, shooting Grantaire a cold look as he exited.

"Bye, Mont!" She said hoarsely. She couldn't project her voice anymore, it hurt and wouldn't work. Cosette sighed as she saw Mont leave. She could tell he was upset, but had no idea why.

"You look beautiful, Éponine." Cosette commented sweetly, standing in the doorway. Éponine's face darkened as she heard Cosette's voice. Of course Marius had brought her. He loved her. She had to remember that Marius loved Cosette and not herself.

"Thank you." She replied quietly, her eyes automatically shifting to Marius again. Grantaire stepped over to the other side of her bed. He was glad she was doing so much better. He knelt down beside the bed.

"Hey, 'Ponine," he smiled. His eyes had big bags under them. He hadn't slept at all the last night. He couldn't stop thinking about Éponine and how she was doing at every moment. He couldn't let himself sleep when his friend was battling death.

"Hey." She whispered, her voice escaping her again. She was frustrated with this, she just wanted to be able to talk and do normal things. If she could've gone back in time, she wouldn't have done any of this. It only made her living condition more miserable.

"Mont wasn't mistreating you, was he?" Grantaire asked worriedly. As soon as he had walked in and seen Mont touching her he was nervous. What if he was saying horrible things to her or even hurting her?

"Grantaire..." Cosette protested, putting a hand on his shoulder. He shook her hand away.

"Was he?" He asked again, looking at Éponine intently.

"No, of course not!" She whispered hoarsely, "he slept in the waiting room. He was with me all morning." Grantaire stopped. Mont had done that? He had been there for Éponine while Grantaire hadn't? He felt horrible. He thought of himself as a better friend than Mont. He was, wasn't he?

"Stop worrying about me." Éponine protested quietly, tired of having to defend Montparnasse.

"How the hell am I supposed to stop worrying about you? You almost died, Éponine." He sighed, pushing some loose black curls back from his forehead. Marius and Cosette looked at each other awkwardly. It seemed they were right in the middle of an argument, though Marius knew Éponine and Grantaire were almost always bickering about something. This was a bit more serious.

"I'm tired." She announced in a whisper, "goodbye." She didn't have anything more to say and pulled the covers up under her chin, waiting for Grantaire and the others to leave. Sure, she wanted to see Marius, but not with Cosette of course. She hoped he'd come back later alone.

"Éponine.." Grantaire protested gently.

"Come on, 'Taire. She said she's tired." Marius said, pulling Grantaire up and opening the door.

"Bye, 'Ponine." Marius called. She smiled contently in response and fell asleep shortly after.


	14. Chapter 14

Éponine's family returned unexpectedly early from Spain with a suspiciously large amount of money and jewelry. As Montparnasse was anxiously pacing in the alleys waiting an hour or two to go back to the hospital, he heard a terribly familiar voice.

"Parnasse!" Thénardier called loudly, sauntering over to where Mont was.

"And what did I miss while collecting my riches?" He snickered, pulling out his wallet and shoving a wad of bills in Mont's face. His wife and Azelma stood back and watched, chuckling. They were also excited to come upon such a large sum of cash.

Montparnasse didn't speak, he only looked up to glower at Thénardier. He couldn't bear to talk to the man who ruined Éponine more than anyone else.

"What's up your ass, 'Parnasse?" Thénardier snarled, putting his hands on his hips.

"Fuck you, Thénardier." Mont muttered, turning away from him coldly. Azelma looked on curiously. Something was very off about Mont, she could tell.

Thénardier lunged towards him and grabbed his arm aggressively.

"Don't be an ass." Thénardier bellowed, "what's going on, kid?" Montparnasse exhaled angrily and clenched his fists.

"It's about Éponine. But you never cared anyways." He scowled. Thénardier shrugged.

"What's the little slut done now?" He rolled his eyes and chuckled bitterly, "did she skip town?"

"No." Mont answered shortly, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Spit it out, kid." Thénardier prodded, leaning in close to Mont's face so Mont could smell his foul breath.

"She almost died, you bastard." Mont spat, wriggling out of Thénardiers grip. Éponine's mother widened her eyes and listened closer. Azelma looked up at her mother nervously but didn't get any kind of acknowledgement. She bit her lip.

"How so? Did she do something stupid on a job?" He laughed. Mont was burning with anger. How could Thénardier care so little about what happened to his own daughter? Especially since she was Éponine. Mont couldn't understand anyone not wanting to be with Éponine as much as he did.

"No, you bastard!" Mont shouted, suddenly finding a surge of anger-fueled strength. He furiously grabbed the collar of Thénardier's shirt and threw him against a nearby building. Mont punched Thénardier's face with such force his nose started bleeding uncontrollably right on the spot. He had the wind knocked out of him for a second. Mont pulled him off the wall and put him in a tight headlock. Thénardier squirmed, kicked and pushed in Mont's grip but to no avail. Mont leaned down a bit. Azelma and her mother stepped back quickly, scared of what Mont might do to them. He was on some kind of rampage.

"She almost died because of you!" He hissed in Thénardier's ear.

"That's not true, 'Parnasse!" Thénardier whispered, trying to push Mont's arm away unsuccessfully. "I wasn't even here to see it happen. Tell me what happened to her. Tell me!"

"She tried to fucking kill herself, Thénardier! Is that good enough for you?" Mont screeched, hitting Thénardier over the head again.

"Éponine did that?" He asked, pausing. "That's not my fault. It's all Éponine's fault. It was her choice, no?"

"She can't stand living anymore because of you! Her own father! You ruined every day of her whole entire life! I hope you're fucking proud." Mont yelled, tears accidentally springing to his eyes. He tried to hold them back so nobody would see, but they were already running down his face. All he had been holding inside about the whole shitty situation came pouring out. He sank down to the ground shamefully, allowing Thénardier to run free.

"What the hell are you doing, 'Parnasse?" Thénardier laughed, "Are you crying, kid?" He threw his head back and laughed louder. Mont furiously wiped his tear stained face, but fresh tears still rushed from his chocolate eyes. He stood up quickly and sprinted away from the scene, humiliated and furious at the same time.

Thénardier was confused as to why Montparnasse was crying. Mont always rolled his eyes and scoffed when he was put on lookout with his daughter. He always made rude comments about Éponine. Thénardier shrugged. Montparnasse was young, though, Thénardier thought. The kid probably had some kind of guilt complex.

"Mom?" Azelma asked timidly. "Is it true?"

"Yeah, 'Zelma. I think so." She answered slowly, putting her hand on Azelma's shoulder. Azelma had always been the favorite sister. Mme Thénardier wanted to make her husband happy and laugh about their dying daughter, but she felt horrible. Even a far from 'good' woman like Mme T felt sort of compelled to care for their child. And now her child was not only suicidal, but she was very unwell at the moment physically too. She sighed exhaustedly. She wanted to see her daughter, she really did. But she knew her husband wouldn't approve.

Meanwhile, Les Amis were as usual convening at the Cafe Musain. Courfeyrac and Combeferre made their way over to where Grantaire, Marius and Grantiare were hanging out. Marius and Cosette were holding hands and talking about Charles Dickens while Grantaire finished off his drink and ordered another. He wasn't in the mood to be sober anymore that day.

"Hey boys. Cosette." Combeferre nodded. Marius and Cosette paused and raised their heads in an extremely synchronized manner.

"Hi!" Cosette grinned, swinging Marius's hand. Marius nodded at his friends. Grantaire didn't look up from the bar where he traced shapes and words with his fingers. He also wasn't in much of a socializing mood.

"So, did you see Éponine today?" Courfeyrac asked carefully. He hoped it wasn't too sensitive a subject.

"Yes, the three of us went over to the hospital today," Marius nodded, smiling a little, "she's doing a lot better. She's definitely more herself." Cosette nodded in agreement. At mention of the hospital trip, Grantaire raised his head and turned to the boys and Cosette.

"I ruined it." He announced, his words already slurred. Courfeyrac raised an eyebrow and looked to Marius.

"No, no, you didn't," Cosette assured him, "you were only trying to be a good friend. She probably wasn't in a talking mood in the first place."

"I just can't stand Montparnasse!" Grantaire groaned, shaking his foot subconsciously.

"Why not?" Courfeyrac asked. Sure, he had always thought of that lanky guy Éponine was often with as kind of sketchy, but what did he know?

"I don't know what's going on with them, if they're friends or whatever, but he's gonna hurt her." Grantaire shook his head and took a long sip of his drink.

"You don't know that." Cosette protested, furrowing her brows.

"That guy looks like trouble." Combeferre sighed.

"But he..I don't know. He seems different with Éponine." Cosette shrugged.

Éponine's condition was getting slowly worse again. Her liver wasn't working properly at all. It wasn't clear at the time whether or not she'd make it to the next week. The deadly combination of the pills and alcohol had really done a number on her already fragile, weak, and malnourished body. The nurses were very wary of Montparnasse. He seemed so filled with anger every time he was in the waiting room and they never saw what he was like when he was alone with Éponine. But he was the one who was able to fill out her information sheets, so clearly they had to let him visit. No matter how threatening he seemed, he was obviously close to Éponine, whose real family hadn't come forward at all, though the hospital had tried to contact her father or mother.

A few days had passed and Éponine's condition wasn't improving or getting worse. She was just seemingly stuck in a pretty bad state. Montparnasse practically lived at the hospital, while Marius, Grantaire and some of the other boys and Cosette would visit from time to time.

"Montparnasse?" Éponine whispered one day as he faithfully sat next to her bed grasping her hand tightly.

"What is it, 'Ponine?" He asked worriedly, furrowing his eyebrows.

"What if I do die?" She asked hoarsely, "would that make you sad?" She needed to know it wouldn't mean completely nothing. If anyone, she figured Mont might care. His face hardened, solemn and serious.

"Of course it would, 'Ponine. Don't ever go thinking it wouldn't." He held her hand tighter and looked at her, frowning. Everything about her looked like death.

"You'd care? Really?" She smiled weakly.

"Everyone would, Ép. Everyone's worried about you now, especially Marius." He added the last part sweetly, though he hated how excited it must've made her to head that.

"Marius is worried?" She brightened up.

"Very," Mont nodded, pulling his chair in so he could be closer to her. Marius only came when he could, once every couple days. Mont hated that Éponine wanted to see Marius so badly. Mont was at the hospital practically 24/7 and only left when he was asked to or Marius was there for a while. He couldn't stand seeing Éponine so happy about seeing him, even though he loved to see her happy more than anything. He had pretty much lost his place in the gang, but she was worth it.

"I'm glad," she smiled, rolling over to face Mont completely, "I feel like I'm going to die soon, Mont." She whispered sadly, hot tears bursting out of her eyes. She had brought this on herself, but now she didn't want to die, and she didn't have much of a say in the matter. Mont's eyes brimmed with tears as hers did. He shook his head quickly and tears started to fall from his eyes. Éponine had never seen him cry.

"You're not," He assured her, gently putting his hand on her pale, almost ghostly face, "you're a fighter, Éponine. I know you are. Just try your best, okay?"

Éponine shook her head defeatedly.

"I can't help it!" She cried, "I just can't... I feel death. I feel it already." Montparnasse believed her. Surely she knew what was going on in her own body. This meant she was dying fast, didn't it? He couldn't let her, but he also couldn't help it. He hated that completely powerless feeling he had during this whole ordeal. The light of his life was quickly losing hers.

"Éponine don't say that..." He sighed, tears still running down his face. His voice was incredibly thick and shaky. His whole world was upside down. Éponine couldn't die, she was his everything, his reason for living.

While they were still having their tearful conversation, a nurse knocked on the door.

"Excuse me," he said through the door, "we need to clear out any visitors now. Two minutes, alright?"

"Alright!" Mont replied, trying to steady his voice. He couldn't believe this was happening.

"Éponine?" He asked. Her eyes were closed. He wondered if she had fallen asleep.

"Yes?" She whispered weakly, not able to open her eyes anymore. She couldn't even muster the strength to do so. This made Montparnasse feel sick. His Éponine was so weak, so vulnerable. This was the strong girl who laughed in his face when she beat him in arm wresting at the pub. This was the girl who sang and danced when she thought he wasn't looking and then slugged him in the face when she noticed he was watching. And now she sat almost lifeless in a hospital bed, having been that way for a whole week. The worst part was that she had tried to kill herself. She was so miserable she saw no reason to live. How could Mont have a reason to live if his reason didn't? He shook his head slowly and furiously wiped his face.

"I love you." He said, loud enough for her to hear this time.

"I love you. Goodbye." She whispered.

"This isn't goodbye!" He reminded her, starting to cry all over again. He had no idea, though. It could be been goodbye.

"I love you so much, Éponine. If you make it through this, I'll never stop loving you." He admitted, letting go of her hand gently and standing up to leave.

"I wish I could live to see it." She whispered, smiling slightly.

"You will." Mont assured her, finally leaving and running into the bathroom to wipe his tears so he could leave.


	15. Chapter 15

On a cold, rainy morning three weeks after Éponine was admitted to the hospital, the hospital workers finally got a hold of Thénardier. The nurses somehow could tell Mont knew exactly where her parents were and why they didn't want to assume responsibility of their daughter. It just so happened that with his new fortune, Thénardier had purchased a sleek new smart phone. And Mont had the number.  
"Excuse me, sir." A nurse walked over to Mont as he walked from the waiting room where he had slept that night.  
"What?" He asked shorty, not wanting to wait another minute to see Éponine.  
"Do you know how we can get a hold of Éponine's mother or father? The records show they're both alive and live near here."  
"I have no idea." Mont lied, tapping his foot impatiently.  
"Look, sir, I don't mean to prod, but I think her parents should be here. You must know something." She looked at Mont pleadingly. It didn't look as if Éponine was going to survive and her parents needed to be present.  
"Fine. You want the bastard's phone number?" Mont snarled.  
"Yes, please," the nurse nodded, pulling out a pen and putting the clip board in front of Mont. He wrote the digits quickly and furiously and then straightened up.  
"Can I see Éponine now?" He asked impatiently.  
"Of course, sir." The nurse nodded, finding her way back behind the desk. He bounded away from the desk and opened the door slowly.

"How're you doing, 'Ponine?" He asked gently. He asked this every time he entered her room and it was usually met with a shrug or inaudible grunt.  
"Come sit with me." Was all she said in response. He rushed to her side and sat down quickly. He took her hand firmly, as usual.  
"It hurts." She whined, writhing on the bed uncomfortably. He frowned.  
"What hurts?" He asked quickly, rubbing her hand comfortingly.  
"Everything!" She cried, wincing and squeezing his hand as tightly as she could. He sat and held onto her hand, but he felt completely helpless. He couldn't do anything more to help her. His love wouldn't ease her pain at all. He could only watch her suffer. He wished it were him. He shook his head quickly.  
"It's okay, 'Ponine. It's okay. Shhhh."  
For an hour he sat assuring her she would be alright while she writhed in pain and cried. There wasn't anything anybody could do about her pain. The doctors didn't know exactly where it was from. After an hour of this, she sighed deeply and her grip on his hand loosened.  
"I feel better now." She smiled up at him. He let out a sigh of relief and grinned.  
"Good." He smiled.  
"Hey, Mont?" She whispered, smiling slightly.  
"Yeah?"  
"You don't look so good." She chuckled weakly.  
"I always look good, 'Ponine." He laughed, running a hand through his dark hair. In reality, though, he didn't really look great as he usually did. He hadn't had a good sleep in three weeks. He'd been biting his nails furiously and they were torn and bloody.  
"Oh please!" She rolled her eyes. He was glad she was so animated. She was more like herself. He grinned down at her.

Meanwhile, Éponine's father was sitting an alley, having a smoke between jobs when his new phone vibrated.  
"Hello?" He answered with fake formality.  
"Is this the father of Éponine Thénardier?" Asked a soft voice on the other end.  
"Uh, yes," he answered slowly. He didn't want to be involved, but he was very curious.  
"Do you know, sir, that your daughter is in our hospital? She's been here for three weeks. We aren't very sure about her condition. Could you come down to the hospital and we can work some things out."  
"My dear Éponine is in the hospital?" He fibbed, "oh I had no idea! Please tell me where she is! Oh God!" He dramatically faked tears.  
"Yes, she is. She's in Hospital, sir. You'd like to come in, would you?" She asked.  
"Of course, of course." He nodded.  
"Alright, sir. We'll see you soon. Goodbye."  
"Hey, Claquesous!" He called, standing up quickly.  
"What?" Claquesous answered shortly, preparing for the next job.  
"I gotta go to the hospital or they're gonna get suspicious." He sighed.  
"Fine. I'll do this myself. You can go see your brat but don't end up like Montparnasse." He chuckled.  
"And what do you mean by that?" Thénardier raised an eyebrow.  
"Montparnasse stopped showing up. He's been with that little slut the whole time." Claquesous rolled his eyes.  
"Has he? Don't worry, I won't be stupid like him." He chuckled bitterly and turned around.

"Hello. I'm Éponine Thénardier's father." Thénardier announced as he walked up to the desk.  
"Oh, wonderful!" The nurse said, "She's right there in 22. You can go on and see her and then when you're finished you can come back here and we can work some things out, alright?" Thénardier nodded and knocked on the door of Éponine's room.  
"Do you want anyone, Ép?" Mont asked carefully.  
"Sure." She sighed.  
"Come in!" Mont called.  
"Ah, I should've known you'd be here too, 'Parnasse. Claquesous tells me you've practically never left."  
"What do you want, Thénardier?" Mont growled, setting his jaw and moving closer to Éponine protectively. Éponine winced. She didn't want to see her father at all. She didn't feel up to arguing though, so she sat back and let Mont deal with it.  
"Well, can't a man visit his own daughter on her death bed?" He teased, leaning against the wall on the other side of the room. Éponine frowned.  
"Éponine's not gonna die. Not here." Mont said firmly.  
"Fine," Thénardier rolled his eyes, "If she doesn't, though, she's in for a rude awakening when she leaves. Do you even know how much I'll have to pay for your pathetic little cry for attention, Éponine?" He growled, coming closer to Éponine. Mont stood up quickly and rushed in front of the bed.  
"It wasn't a cry for attention." Mont shouted angrily, grabbing Thénardier's arm firmly. Éponine shook her head quickly.  
"Mont, no!" She protested. She didn't want her father to hurt him.  
"Fine, whatever. This is bullshit, I'm leaving." Thénardier snarled, opening the door quickly and glaring pointedly at Éponine. Éponine sighed, relieved. At least the awful encounter was short.  
"Oh, I'm sorry about that, 'Ponine." Mont rushed again to the side of the bed and put his hand on Éponine's tiny shoulder.  
"What's he gonna do to me when I leave?" Éponine breathed, terrified. She hadn't even considered that. They were going to make him pay the bills and he would he so furious.  
"He's not doing anything." Mont assured her surely.  
"He said he was going to..." Her eyes were full of fear.  
"No. I'll make sure he doesn't." Mont shook his head.

For the next few days, Montparnasse wasn't allowed to visit. Nobody was. These few days were very crucial and she would be under intensive care all day. These few days were miserable for Mont. He didn't know how she was at any given moment. He wasn't there to assure her that everything would be okay. He didn't get to see her and that made him completely furious. He was also terrified. He didn't sleep one second at all over those days. He was so out of it. He walked around aimlessly, sometimes bumping into buildings or people and mumbling to himself.  
At one point, he was walking through the apartment complex part of town and, quite literally, bumped into Marius. Marius was looking at the ground intently and walking purposefully when he stumbled backwards. Mont had bumped into him and was continuing to walk. Marius would have ignored it, but he noticed it was Montparnasse. He looked so different. His usually neat dark hair was a matted mess. His eyes had gigantic, dark bags under them and he looked like he'd lost at least five or ten pounds.  
"Montparnasse?" Marius said gently, walking up to Mont.  
"Yes, what is it?" Mont asked, trying to snap out of it and act normal.  
"Are you okay?" He asked worriedly, furrowing his brows.  
"I'm fine, Pontmercy." Mont replied coldly. Marius hadn't visited Éponine in several days, truthfully it was because he didn't want to run into Montparnasse. He was scared of him. He thought Mont would beat him up, as he always seemed to be particularly bitter around him. He would glower and act pissed off every time he entered.  
"O-okay. Sorry," he bit his lip, "Um, have you seen Éponine lately?" He asked. He wanted to know how she was doing, even if he was too scared to visit. Not only did Montparnasse scare him, but the whole idea of hospitals and sickness really terrified him and he felt like crying every time he walked in. He felt guilty for not being there, but he really couldn't stand it.  
"They're not letting anyone see her lately." He sighed.  
"Why not?" Marius asked, alarmed. Did it mean she was doing horribly or something like that?  
"I don't know. Stop asking questions." Mont snapped, glaring at Marius. He would've messed the kid up if Éponine didn't care so much about him.

Finally, after 6 days of misery, Éponine was allowed guests. Mont was immediately elated when he walked in. He was so worried about her condition. What if she was a lot worse? What if she couldn't recognize him? But as soon as he walked in, it was clear she was so much better. She was sitting up on her own and the light was back in her eyes. Her skin was back to its normal shade, instead of a ghostly yellowish-white color as it had been. She smiled widely as he walked in.  
"Mont!" She exclaimed at full volume. Her voice was back to normal.  
"Éponine!" He rushed to the side of the bed, "you're so much better!"  
"I know!" She grinned, "they're letting me out soon. They told me. They even let me walk around now. " Mont unexplainably started crying. He had missed her so much, and now she was completely herself. The Éponine he knew and loved.  
"I missed you so much, 'Ponine." He closed his eyes and let out a relieved sigh.  
"I missed you, too," she smirked, "but there's no need to cry." He laughed through his tears and rubbed his face.  
"Didn't I tell you you'd make it? Didn't I?" He teased, grinning.  
"Yeah," she admitted, "I guess you did. I'm glad I didn't put any money on that."  
"That would've been pretty fucking dumb. If you won, you'd have been dead, and you couldn't collect your winnings." He pointed out. Éponine laughed heartily and paused, looking at him intently. She was so flattered that anyone would so faithfully sit by her bed for three weeks. She never would have guessed it would be Montparnasse. Even after Azelma told her he liked her, she hadn't taken it completely seriously. Azelma had a habit of telling outlandish lies for attention unfortunately. She thought if anyone would pull through for her it would probably be Marius, since he was such a faithful friend. At first when he'd stopped visiting, she was upset but she cared less and less every time Mont would come to see her, which was all the time. She found herself longing for Marius less and less every day, too. She even admitted to herself she thought he was cute with Cosette. Before her hospital visit, if she had to choose one person to spend the rest of her life with it would be Marius. Now she found herself leaning towards Mont. Sure, he was rough around the edges but she couldn't even bear to think about life without him.  
"Mont," she bit her lip nervously.  
"Yes?" He raised an eyebrow.  
"I love you." She admitted, one side of her lip turning up. Mont beamed.  
"I love you so much." He replied passionately. Everything was falling into place. Soon she'd be ready to leave the hospital and now she loved him too. His heart soared. The one thing he'd wanted more than anything was for Éponine to love him and now she did. He didn't even care if the gang would take him back. He could do 'business' on his own. She stood up from the bed slowly. She was now allowed to walk around sometimes, but she wasn't completely steady. Mont rushed to her side and steadied her.  
"Sorry I tried to kill myself." She muttered.  
"Don't be," he whispered into her ear, "I'm glad you're alive, 'Ponine." In that moment, everything seemed to work for her. Of course she had a reason to live, of course things could get better. Somebody loved her and she loved him back. She put her hands firmly on his shoulders for balance, got on her tippy-toes and planted a quick kiss on his cherry lips. She was a bit more than a foot shorter than him, her being just under five feet and him being six.  
"Don't be tease." He smirked, lifting her up as gently as he could and kissing her passionately. She ran her hands through his messy hair and continued to kiss him. It felt so natural, so right for both of them. He stepped back blindly and sat on the bed so that she was sitting in his lap. They continued to kiss feverishly until she pulled back, grinning and looking into his dark eyes.  
"Not here." She giggled. He grinned stupidly. He had been waiting so long to kiss her like she deserved.  
"Can we continue this later?" He asked, "or are you going to go back to hating me after this?" She chuckled.  
"I never hated you. Well, not since I was twelve." She smirked. He stood up and she remained sitting on the bed, her legs dangling over the side.  
"That doesn't answer my question." He pointed out.  
"No I don't think it'll ever be the same," she smiled, "In a good way."  
"A very good way." He agreed, beaming.


	16. Chapter 16

"Excuse me, sir!" The nurse at the desk called over Montparnasse one day as he quickly made his way to Éponine's room. He looked up and nodded for her to continue.

"Éponine can go home tomorrow," She delivered the news with a smile. All the nurses at the hospital always, despite what they were told about this, became close with the patients. All the nurses talked about the mysterious man who was always by Éponine's side. They all thought it was adorable how devoted he was, even though they all agreed he was rather threatening otherwise.

"Great." Mont grinned.

"But, um, her father hasn't been in touch. He isn't answering his phone and he hasn't dealt with the...billing." She said timidly. She was afraid of how Montparnasse would respond.

"What?" Mont asked angrily. Thénardier had complained and threatened Éponine about having to pay the bill and he didn't even do it? Hell, the guy had plenty of cash to spare now!

"Uh, yes. Do you know if he's planning to...well..." The nurse bit her lip.

"Spit it out." He snapped.

"Is he planning to pay the bill?" She replied quickly.

"I don't know." Mont snapped, glaring at the nurse. She wasn't expecting Mont to pay it, was she? He was completely broke since he lost his place in the gang. He hadn't any time for thieving on his own time, either. He didn't have a dollar to his name. Before she could speak again, Mont turned quickly and went to Éponine's room.

She sat up excitedly when he entered.

"Hey, 'Ponine." He smiled, but defeat was clear in his tone.

"What's the matter?" She asked, furrowing her brow.

"Your deadbeat father." He snapped, sitting down on the edge of her bed and putting his head in his hands.

"What about him?" She asked warily, slipping out of the blankets and crawling to his edge of the bed. She put her hand on his shoulder. He lifted his head and sighed deeply.

"He didn't pay the goddamn bill." He groaned. Éponine bit her lip.

"And I'm broke." He added defeatedly.

"Me too." She sighed.

"No, don't worry about it. I'll figure it out." He decided. He'd probably do some business that night and then by the time she was being released the next day he'd have the money.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Ponine," he chuckled cockily, "you know I have no trouble getting cash, right?"

"You're right." She smiled, planting a kiss on his cheek. He turned back to face her and grinned.

"Ah, come on 'Ponine," he whined, "don't tease me." She smirked.

"It's not teasing, Mont. I'm just giving you a sneak peek." She teased, running her fingers down his tattooed arm.

As she was doing this, Grantaire burst in without knocking. He'd just been informed about her release the next day and he was elated. She was going to be okay!

"So I hear you're getting out tomor-" He grinned, then stopping short when he noticed her and Montparnasse on the end of the bed, clearly being pretty romantic. Éponine sprung up from the bed quickly and a bit shakily and couldn't help but giggle a little at the awkwardness.

"Yeah, I am," she grinned, crossing her arms awkwardly. Mont sat at the end of the bed indignantly. He couldn't stand Grantaire. Éponine could sense the tension between the two men.

"Did I miss something?" She asked, looking to Grantaire and then to Montparnasse and back to Grantaire again.

"What do you mean?" Grantaire asked, though he was pretty sure he did know.

"You two look like you want to kill each other," She said, sitting back down on the bed and facing Grantaire, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, 'Ponine," Mont scoffed, glaring at Grantaire, "this bloke threw some punches at me the other day. I was being nothing but nice."

"Mont," she chuckled, "you're never nice."

"Fine," Mont admitted, "but he just started hitting me and gave me a fucking bloody nose and I didn't even fight back."

"R?" Éponine furrowed her eyebrows, "Did this happen?" She sighed heavily.

"Yeah," Grantaire admitted, "But you don't understand, 'Ponine."

Éponine shook her head. "What the hell?" She spat, "what happened?"

"He thought I was going to hurt you." Mont scoffed, pursing his lips.

"Well I still think so." Grantaire glared at Mont. He was worried for Éponine. Montparnasse was bad news.

"Oh my god," Éponine groaned, "Grantaire! Montparnasse would never hurt me."

"What makes you so sure?" Grantaire narrowed his eyes.

"Because...because he loves me. And I love him." She admitted, reaching behind her for Mont's hand. He took it gently and nodded along with what she said. Grantaire nodded reluctantly.

"Montparnasse..." Grantaire said reluctantly.

"Mm?" Mont looked at him expectantly.

"I'm sorry for being an ass."

"Eh, it's fine." Mont shrugged.

"But you're gonna treat Éponine right, yes?" He added, raising his raspy voice.

"Grantaire..." Éponine rolled her eyes.

"Of course." Mont nodded.

"Hey cutie." Montparnasse went up to a rich looking girl later that night behind a ritzy bar. She was pretty, with long auburn hair and big green eyes. She also looked to have had a few too many drinks.

"Hi there." She replied, giving him her best sultry face. Montparnasse had lots of charm and this always helped him on jobs. He had charisma, and people were drawn to him. They wanted to talk to him, they wanted him to talk to them. And this made things a lot easier for him. Not to mention he was quite an attractive man who took good care of his appearance. Since Éponine had been doing better, he'd taken pride in his appearance again.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing out here alone?" He crooned, eyeing her Coach purse. The woman shrugged and smirked at Mont.

"Aren't you a smooth talker?" She purred, stepping closer to Mont. He chuckled.

"Yes, I like to think so." He replied smoothly. But he didn't want to waste much time. He already had her under his spell. So he just carefully slid his knife out of his pocket and smirked at her. She smirked back, pushing back some of her shiny hair. Swiftly, Montparnasse pulled her purse out of her hand and started running, holding his knife out in case she tried to fight back.

"Hey! That's mine!" She called drunkenly, then giving up and slumping down in the parking lot.

Once he had been running for a few minutes, Montparnasse thought he was probably far enough away to check out what was in the purse. He grinned as he opened up the leather wallet. The girl must've just hit the bank that day or something. There was at least a thousand bucks in the purse. Who the hell carried around that much money? Mont laughed. This stupid girl really made his night. He wouldn't even have that much work left to do to pay the bills. Hospital bills were high, though, and Éponine didn't have any kind of insurance. He'd have to do something drastic, break into a department store maybe. But he knew he could do it.

The next morning, the day of Éponine's discharge, Montparnasse walked into the hospital with more than enough to pay the bill and sorted out the billing with ease. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Grantaire happily making his way to Éponine room. Mont groaned.

"You're leaving today!" Grantaire grinned, making joking dramatic hand gestures. Éponine laughed. "Yes, sir!"

"But I need to talk to you for real, 'Ponine." He sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed. She knew exactly what it was about but didn't protest this time, just nodding wordlessly.

"So you and Montparnasse.." He started, "you're really a thing?"

"Yes, we are really a 'thing'" She rolled her eyes.

"So you really love him?"

"I really, really do. Why can't you accept it? I know you don't like him but..."

"I just don't understand, Éponine," he sighed, "just a month ago you were naming you and Pontmercy's kids."

"No, I was not!" She protested.

"That's beside the point. It's not fair to Montparnasse just to date him to try to get over Marius." Grantaire said. Éponine shook her head quickly.

"I don't like Marius anymore. Look, I know. I know it's weird and I liked him a lot before all this, but I promise Mont is really the man I love. I love him more than I ever loved Marius and he loves me just as much. Okay?" She groaned. She wished R could just understand already. It didn't seem that hard.

"Are you sure?" He asked worriedly. He knew she'd be annoyed by now, but the whole incident over the past few weeks made him feel like he constantly needed to worry about her. If Montparnasse broke her heart it would send her off the edge again. And he couldn't bear to see his best friend in such pain.

"I'm positive." She replied indignantly. She was about to hit him, he was annoying her so much. He could sense that.

"I'm gonna go now. Have fun." He gave a small smile.

"Bye, 'Taire," she hummed.

"I'm proud of you." He muttered as he slid out the door. Éponine smiled to herself.

A few minutes later, Montparnasse entered with a nurse trailing behind him.

"Hi, Éponine," the nurse smiled sweetly, "Just get your things together and you're all set to leave whenever you'd like." Éponine grinned.

"Thank you." She stood up from the bed as the nurse left and closed the door. She looked around. It appeared she had everything she needed in place.

"I think I've got everything..." She muttered to herself, "I didn't even bring anything." She exhaled, satisfied. Montparnasse reached out for her hand.

"You ready?" He asked. She nodded and took his hand firmly. She felt like a new person. She hasn't worn normal clothes in weeks, just that morning Montparnasse had brought her something to wear. That wasn't the most important part, though. She wouldn't even consider killing herself now. She looked forward to the days ahead of her. And that made her so happy. She grinned.

Montparnasse was filled with excitement, too. He had been so low when he thought she might die that now he was completely thrilled. Everything did work out like he had hoped. Now Éponine loved him too and he would spoil her and love her forever...just thinking about it made him giddy.

A few hours later, Éponine and Montparnasse were taking a long walk as she tried to get back into the life she tried to leave, though it was different now. They had talked a little bit in the beginning of the walk, but silence felt right. She had her arm around his back and his was slung over her shoulder. It felt so good for both of them to be together like that. It just felt _right._ Every second was perfect, and for once Éponine was looking forward to the future, and Mont was too. Out of the blue, Mont lifted her off the ground with ease.

"You promised we could finish later, didn't you?" He winked. Éponine giggled.

"You got me." She purred, pressing her lips on his firmly and putting her hands behind his head. He ran his hands through her hair intensely. It felt as if their hearts were beating in time. Everything had fallen into place. This went on for longer than they knew. They lost themselves in each other, they lost track of time. Éponine moaned and pulled back reluctantly. She had to go to the cafe soon. Grantaire had invited and she didn't want him to be even more mad at her.

"I have to go..." She sighed as he let go of her and placed her down.

"Why so soon?" He whined, taking her hand. She squeezed his hand.

"I've got to go meet my friends at the cafe."

"Oh. I'll walk you there." He sighed, starting towards the cafe.

"Sorry," she muttered, "I'll come back right after."

"No, don't worry about it. I'll be waiting." He winked.

"Mont, you know how much your winking annoys me." She chuckled.

"But I'm so cool." He jokingly protested. She laughed and stopped, as they'd just reached the cafe. She planted a quick kiss on his lips, on her tippy-toes barely able to reach. He chuckled and kissed her forehead.

"Bye," she murmured, stepping away, "I love you." He watched her go off with a distant smile.


	17. Chapter 17

Éponine took a deep breath before walking towards the café. She was worried. Would it be awkward? She picked at her nails nervously. But she had to go in, because the only thing worse than showing up would be not showing up. Grantaire was excited about the gathering, he really, really hoped she wouldn't bring Montparnasse. Something about Mont was just off to him, like he had ulterior motives or something. He knew how it might be hard for Éponine to face everyone again, so he waited outside the cafe for her. He snarled as he saw her kiss Montparnasse. He wasn't coming, was he? He was relieved when Éponine continued towards the cafe without him and eventually Mont disappeared into the shadows.

"Hey!" He called, walking over to meet Éponine. The fact that she could enter with him made her feel a bit better. She wouldn't be all alone. She still had an irrational fear of being alone in any way.

"Hi." She smiled as she met him.

"You ready?" He asked gently. He was willing to stay outside for a little longer with her if she wasn't ready.

"Yeah. Of course." She nodded profusely and followed him in.

"Éponine!" Courfeyrac called out, being the first one to see her. She smiled slightly, sticking by Grantaire. No, she was not looking forward to this but she had to get it over with. She hated pity and she was about to get a lot of it. Marius waved awkwardly and she nodded. She felt absolutely nothing for him. It was freeing. She could look at him and Cosette in the corner with their hands all over each other and it didn't hurt her anymore.

A bunch of the boys crowded around her, talking all at once so that she couldn't understand what a single one of them was saying. Marius remained completely staid in the corner.

"Why aren't you over there?" Cosette asked, as she waited for the buzz to die down so she could really talk to Éponine. Marius shrugged and looked down.

"Marius. What is it?" Cosette narrowed her eyes.

"You didn't see her in the park today?" He asked.

"I didn't see her. What does it matter?" She asked, confused.

"You didn't see her making out with Montparnasse?" He scoffed. Cosette couldn't help the smile that spread across her lips. She thought they would be a good couple and now they were together.

"No, I didn't. Are you mad at her?" Cosette sighed.

"I'm not mad," he mumbled, "I'm disappointed."

"Marius," Cosette protested, "she can love whoever she wants."

"That guy is a sociopath!"

"You don't know that. Maybe you just need to get to know him." She suggested, putting her hand on Marius's.

"Please, just don't be mad at her, okay?" Cosette pleaded, looking into his eyes. She knew that would get him to listen.

"Fine." He sighed, standing up and making his way towards Éponine and the others.

"I'm glad you're back, 'Ponine." Marius smiled genuinely.

"Thanks," she smiled, turning around to face him. It felt good to have everyone talking to her, paying attention to her but she knew it wasn't real. If she hadn't just gotten out of the hospital, she would've been watching everyone from the corner again. But she decided to make the best of the foreign attention. And she wasn't planning on staying too long. She missed Montparnasse already. This was so odd. Usually, she would've been pretty neutral about his presence. She felt like a completely new person, and not only in regards to Mont. She had some faith in herself. She not only loved Montparnasse now, but she finally found a way to love herself. And it was a wonderful new feeling for her. She was so glad she'd been given" the chance to start again. And that's what she thought she should do.

"Ponine?" Marius inquired when he spotted Éponine alone just for a fleeting second. She turned around and raised an eyebrow in response.

"Are you and Montparnasse..." He started awkwardly. She sighed exasperatedly.

"Yes." She answered shortly, staring up at him indignantly. She wished her friends would stop worrying about Mont. She knew he would take care of her.

"Are you sure that's right?" His face contorted with worry.

"Yes." She answered again, choosing not to elaborate. She turned away from him and waited for him to leave.

"Ponine, wait," he sighed, shifting his stance. She turned around again.

"What?" She grunted.

"Can we talk about this like adults?"

"Marius, there's nothing to talk about." She groaned.

"Éponine, Montparnasse is going to hurt you. He's going to-"

Éponine cut him off. "What the hell? Why can't anyone accept the fact that we love each other? It doesn't matter what kind of guy he is, or what you think of him. He loves me and I love him and we're meant for each other." She fumed. Marius heaved a sigh and shook his head, walking away slowly.

"Sorry about him." Cosette sighed, coming up behind Éponine. Éponine turned around sharply.

"Whatever." She shrugged.

"He doesn't know what he's talking about," Cosette said in a lower voice, "I think you and Montparnasse are cute."

"Thanks." Éponine chuckled.

"So are you feeling better? You look great." Cosette flashed a grin.

"Thank you," Éponine blushed, "and yeah, I am."

"Good. I'm always here if you need to talk." Cosette added gently.

"Thanks. Um, you too." She muttered, though it immediately sounded stupid to her. Why would Cosette need her help? She was perfect, much more than Éponine would ever be. Éponine shook her head at her own thought. She couldn't start bringing herself down again. But Cosette was just so much better than her, and she owed Cosette, she really did. But she had nothing to give Cosette that she would want.

"Thanks, Éponine," Cosette grinned sincerely. Éponine envied how Cosette just did everything so easily. She danced her day through life, really. Even things she clearly didn't want to she handled with grace. That was more than Éponine could say for herself. Jesus Christ! Now she was mad at herself. She had managed to start hating herself again, which she thought she was done doing. She'd been so happy when she was with Mont just an hour before, but now everything felt the same as it did before the incident. She had refused to go to rehab for the suicide attempt, thinking everything would be okay but she still felt the same self-hatred as before. It was as if she was only happy with Montparnasse. Éponine pretended to study the clock across the room.

"Shit," she lied, "I lost track of time. I've got to go!" She said apologetically, waving goodbye to Cosette and not saying goodbye to anyone else as she practically ran to the door. She felt stupid for letting herself think she'd become a stronger person, because she really hadn't. She ran frantically around, looking for Montparnasse. He was waiting for her behind a building, leaning against the building smoking a cigarette. She made her way to him quickly and embraced him tightly, wishing she'd never have to let go. She hated the tears running down her face, but at least she was happier now in Mont's arms.

"What's wrong? Did someone say something to you?" He asked angrily.

"No," she mumbled into his shirt, "I didn't want to be there anymore." He nodded and ran his hand over her hair a few times to comfort her.

"Éponine?" He asked, pausing for a second.

"Yeah?"

"What's really bothering you? And I'll know if you're lying." He slumped down so he was sitting against the wall and gestured for her to join him.

"It's just me, Mont. I'm not anything like the other girls." She groaned, surprised at how easily she opens up.

"You're better." He tried, putting his hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

"Don't pull that." She grumbled, shaking his shoulder off.

"Well you-"

Éponine cut him off. "I don't want to talk about it." She grunted, turning so she was facing away from him. He sighed and looked at her sadly. He hated that she hated herself. She was perfect to him, and strong too. She couldn't see it, and he couldn't see why. He couldn't stand the distance. He moved forward and pulled her onto his lap. She didn't protest at all, laying her head back on his shoulder.

"I love you." She whispered.

"I love you." He whispered back, smiling down at her. They sat like that for only a few minutes when Mont heard Éponine's breathing becoming louder. She was sound asleep. He understood, this had probably been a strenuous day for her. And he was disheartened. He thought she was all better. He thought she'd be happy now. But now he understood that her body was healthier but her mind was essentially the same. The girl he loved with all his heart would never love herself and that hurt him. With ease, he kept her in his arms and stood up, looking down momentarily to see if her chest was still rising steadily. He couldn't risk losing her again.

He made his way to his apartment, which was nice for a man of his class. But of course he hadn't honestly acquired the money to pay for it. He put Éponine down gently on the couch and covered her with a fuzzy green blanket. He smiled tenderly at her as he sat down on the couch by her feet. She looked so peaceful.

That didn't last long though. She woke up with a start and looked around the room nervously until she realized she was awake. She'd had a horrible dream, but that was nothing new.

"You fell asleep on me." He chuckled, propping his feet up on the table. She looked around, still in a sleepy haze. She didn't remember coming to Mont's apartment, a place she rarely ever saw anyways.

"Wake up." He teased, pushing a loose hair out of his face. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, coming out of the haze.

"You wanna watch something? A movie?" He asked.

"Sure." She shrugged, sitting up and leaning on him with her head on his shoulder.

"Here, since I'm so nice, I'll put on one of your girl movies." He snorted, finding The Notebook on Netflix, which he had only bought to watch Breaking Bad. She laughed and nodded.

"I love this movie!" And snuggled in closer, draping the blanket over the both of them.

"Are you gonna cry?" He teased, putting his arm around her protectively.

"Jesus," she scoffed, "what do you think I am? I don't cry at movies."

"Yeah. Me neither." He laughed.

"Mont," she reminded him, "don't think I've forgotten about you crying at the Lion King." He swatted her playfully.

"Don't talk about that!" He growled, turning his attention back to the movie and shushing her. The credits started and Éponine struggled to keep her eyes opened as much as she wanted to finish the movie. She didn't even make it twenty minutes before she drifted off, her head in Mont's lap. He chuckled softly as he saw Éponine drift off.


	18. Chapter 18

When Éponine finally woke, the movie was just ending. She rubbed her eyes and looked up at Montparnasse, cackling as she noticed his wet face. She sprang up quickly.  
"You're crying!" She accused, laughing loudly. He shook his head and stood up quickly, making her fall off of him. He stormed off angrily into his room and shut the door. Éponine rolled her eyes. He was making such a big deal over it. She laughed to herself, though. Montparnasse was a tough guy for sure, and here he was crying over The Notebook. She groaned and lazily got off the couch. She'd have to force him out of his room, wouldn't she? She rolled her eyes again and padded down the hall.  
"Why'd you storm off Mont?" She sighed exasperatedly. He didn't answer, he remained brooding silently in his room. She waited outside his door, sitting down and tapping her feet on the ground impatiently. After ten minutes, he finally opened the door and glowered down at her.  
"I wasn't crying." He huffed, stepping over her back into the living room. She laughed mockingly and sprang up from the ground, following him.  
"I won't tell anyone." She promised, leaning against the doorway.  
"Promise?" He raised both eyebrows at her. She nodded slowly and stifled a laugh.  
"Good," he grunted, "you're not telling anyone about how I did not cry at The Notebook." She nodded again and walked towards him, sitting with him on the couch and wrapping her arms around him. He rested his head on her shoulder lightly. She kissed his cheek firmly and he turned his head so their faces were parallel.  
"Not a soul." He reminded in a whisper, pressing his lips against hers and moving his lips in rhythm with hers. She crawled onto his lap and tightly grasped his collar as they kissed. He placed his hands gently in the curve of her back. She kissed him firmly until he was lying down on his back and from there continued to kiss him, unbuttoning his shirt quickly. It felt so good to have her hands on him. There was a passion radiating off of both of them. She smiled widely against his lips.  
"Want to take this to the bedroom?" He whispered wickedly. She nodded in response and they slowly made their way to the bedroom, their lips interlocked the whole way over.

A long while later, Éponine found herself lying on her back, smiling to herself, as Montparnasse stood up and buttoned his shirt back up.  
"You were going easy on me, weren't you?" She teased, smirking.  
"You just got out of the hospital," he admitted, "of course I did." She groaned jokingly.  
"How long are you going to use that excuse for?" She raised an eyebrow. He chuckled and shook his head wordlessly.  
"I'm gonna order some food. What do you want?" He asked, picking her shirt up from the floor and tossing it to her. She sat up and caught the shirt, slipping it back on and shrugging.  
"I'm not really that hungry."  
"Come on. You have to eat something." He pleaded, crossing his arms. Éponine glared at him, standing up as well and getting dressed again.  
"I'm good." She asserted.  
"Éponine, you haven't eaten all day. Why don't you want anything?"  
"Stop treating me like I'm five." She clenched her jaw angrily and started to leave the room in a hurry. He grabbed her arm.  
"Come on. You're gonna get sick again."  
"No, I'm not," she protested, shaking his arm away, "I'm not fucking hungry."  
"Is there another reason you don't want to eat?" He asked warily. Her nostrils flared.  
"I don't have a god damn eating disorder!" She screeched. He sighed and ran his hands through his hair.  
"Ponine, I'm just worried about you." He sighed, trying to keep his cool, though he was getting mad at her and he had a notoriously horrible temper.  
"I'm an adult, Mont. You don't have to worry about me. I can take care of myself." She spat, clenching her fists angrily.  
"No you can't!" He shouted, his face contorting with anger, "Can I remind you where you were for the past three weeks?"  
"I know," she fumed, "you don't have to keep reminding me." She felt a sinking in her stomach. She knew she could never leave her suicide attempt behind. She couldn't start again because nobody would let her. Now she'd earned a reputation as someone who needed to be coddled. She stormed out of his room, slamming the door loudly for dramatic affect, leaving Montparnasse standing alone. He sighed loudly and sat on the bed. He hadn't meant to make her go crazy, but he really was worried. And now he was furious too, wondering why she always had to reject help. Why couldn't she just let him help? He wanted to help her.

She needed to get away from the apartment. She didn't want to be alone, but she didn't want to face the situation with Mont. It wasn't late, it was only eight, but she hoped someone would be leaving the Musain. She didn't want to go in and see everyone, but maybe she'd catch one individual coming out she could talk to. She sat in the chair outside the restaurant next door, watching intently, deciding that if someone were to leave she could make it look like a casual coincidence. She only thought for a second how odd this plan really was, but shrugged it off. She was desperate for interaction but she had her doubts about going inside. She hated being reduced to this, she hated that she couldn't just effortlessly thrive in social situations. She was forced to watch every time, wishing that could somehow make people want to like her. It didn't.  
Her heart skipped when she saw someone leaving the cafe. It was Cosette. It was a rare sight to see her separated from Marius. Éponine made her way over to Cosette and smiled.  
"Hey, Cosette," she smiled.  
"Éponine! Hi!" Cosette grinned.  
"Surprised to see you without Pontmercy."  
"Oh yeah. They got into a really heated political debate in there so I thought I should leave." She chuckled. Éponine chuckled and nodded.  
"They get really heated. Courfeyrac burns books."  
"Oh gosh," Cosette giggled, "I didn't know it went that far."  
"Yeah." Éponine laughed, "it really does."  
"Do you want to get coffee?" Cosette asked. She wanted to talk more with Éponine, and more than small talk. She was interested and puzzled by what happened after she left the Thénardiers. She would've held some kind of grudge against Éponine if she hadn't fallen so far. She felt sorry for Éponine but also genuinely wanted to be her friend.  
"Sure." Éponine nodded. She wouldn't have to sit alone after all. She walked with Cosette to Starbucks, her head down the whole time.  
"So, Éponine," Cosette trilled, "tell me more about you and Montparnasse." Éponine winced, but smiled anyways. The little fight meant nothing.  
"Well we were just kind of friends. And then he kept coming to see me in..in the hospital and I don't know. It started from there and I don't really know how." She shrugged, smiling.  
"Aw, that's precious!" Cosette grinned, going up to the counter and ordering her coffee. Éponine pulled out a few crumpled dollar bills and bought hers.  
"Tell me about you and Marius." Éponine wriggled her eyebrows playfully. She loved how she could open up to Cosette and talk to her freely. She wanted a friend like that and while Grantaire had always been a good friend, she couldn't talk to him until he came to terms with the fact that she was with Montparnasse.  
"What about it?" Cosette asked, smiling just at the thought.  
"How'd you meet?"  
"Well, this is sort of funny, but we met at the library because we were waiting in the check out line and he dropped his book on my foot." She giggled. Éponine laughed. That was such a Marius thing to do.  
"That's great." Éponine laughed, sipping her coffee. She could just imagine Marius blushing wildly and apologizing all awkwardly.  
"He just met my dad the other night." Cosette said, smiling down at her drink.  
"And what was the verdict?" Éponine raised an eyebrow.  
"I think he likes him," Cosette shrugged, "It doesn't really matter if he does or doesn't. My dad is such a push over."  
Éponine chuckled. She vaguely remembered the man who took Cosette away all those years ago. He seemed so nice, but at the time Éponine had still thought her parents were great. It wasn't long after that they started taking all their anger out on Éponine, and occasionally Azelma. She remembered the first time her father had hit her she was shocked and terrified. She thought those things were reserved only for Cosette, even though she was gone. Cosette bit her lip, noticing Éponine was deep in thought. There were so many things she wanted to ask Éponine.  
"Éponine, if I may..." Cosette started.  
"Go ahead." Éponine watched curiously.  
"What happened after I..left?"  
"A lot," Éponine chuckled bitterly, "my stupid father lost all of his money gambling and we went completely broke and lost the inn. And it went downhill from there."  
Cosette frowned. "I-I'm sorry."  
"Don't be," Éponine shrugged. She knew she deserved it for being so horrible to Cosette, they all did. She'd watched her father beat Cosette with a completely blank expression.  
"Did your father ever...hurt you?" Cosette asked gently. She hoped she wasn't prodding, but she really was thirsty for knowledge on the subject.  
"No." Éponine lied quickly, taking a long sip of coffee. Cosette could tell Éponine was lying, but could also tell she didn't want to talk about it. She frowned. As the time went on, Éponine felt more and more guilty about how must've looked like such a bitch to Montparnasse. What if he didn't take her back? She'd never been in a real relationship before so she didn't know what to think. She couldn't focus on the conversation she was having with Cosette.  
"Éponine?" Cosette asked, "are you alright?" Éponine came back to life.  
"Oh y-yeah," Éponine mumbled, "I'm so sorry, I think I've got to go..." She stood up suddenly and tossed her cup on the way out of the coffee shop. Cosette watched her, confused. What was with her?

"Mont?" She called nervously as she let herself back into his apartment. There was no answer. She called his name again and didn't hear anything. Maybe he was sleeping, she reasoned. She knocked on his bedroom door, still no answer. She pushed the door open gently and looked inside. Sure enough, he was sound asleep. She smiled slightly. He looked so different asleep, more vulnerable. He never looked vulnerable awake. He was an intimidating person. She sat on the end of his bed and swung her legs over the side, waiting for him to wake up.  
After a few minutes, she heard him sleepily moan and turned back to him. He sat up quickly, alarmed, until he noticed it was just Éponine.  
"Hey," he said groggily, "you're back."  
She nodded and moved over so she could snuggle up next to him.  
"I'm sorry." She whispered, putting her head on his shoulder. He shook his head slowly, looking down at her sadly.  
"You can't just leave like that," he sighed, "I thought you'd left for good."  
"Well, it doesn't look like it bothered you that much," she quipped bitterly, "you went and took a nap." He really didn't care about her, did he? Was Grantaire right all along? Her stomach twisted nervously.  
"Éponine.." He heaved a sigh and ran his hand through his hair.  
"What?"  
"It did bother me. I went to sleep because I didn't want to think about it anymore, okay? You read into everything too much." He groaned. Éponine looked up at Mont unsurely.  
"So you'd really care if I left?" She asked softly. He wrapped his arms around her.  
"Of course I would, 'Ponine. I love you." Montparnasse smiled. Éponine nodded contently.  
"I won't scare you like that again." She promised, planting a kiss on his cheek. He stretched and stood up from the bed, rubbing his eyes. She stood up and followed him out of the room.  
"Shit.." He muttered, looking at the clock.  
"What?"  
"I've got a job now. I'll be back in a while." He kissed her quickly and dashed out the door. She frowned and moped over to the couch and curled up in the blankets. She hated being alone, she despised it. She anxiously waited for him to come back. It was horrible the effect love had on her. Sure, it made her life so much brighter but it softened her a lot. Usually, she was extremely strong but now she just felt cowardly and alone. She tried to think of an alternative, but saw none to just getting drunk.  
She pulled a bottle out of Mont's cabinet and drank straight out of it until she felt dizzy and couldn't gather any thoughts. She liked it that way a lot better. She stumbled back to the couch and promptly passed out. She used to be able to handle liquor a lot better. The sleep came to her blissfully.

A few hours later, Montparnasse quietly slipped back in the apartment, pulling the large amount of money out of his leather jacket's pocket and putting it in his secret compartment by the bathroom door. He smiled gently as he saw Éponine asleep on the couch and walked over to her, sitting down beside her. It didn't take him long to smell the alcohol on her. He groaned. What the hell was she thinking? He shook her to wake her up, but she didn't budge. He shook his head. What the hell had she done? She couldn't be dead, could she? His heart felt like it was beating out of his chest. He shook her again, harder this time. She opened her eyes slightly and muttered something inaudible.  
"Jesus, Éponine," he groaned, "you scared me to death!" He hugged her tightly, as he thought he'd just lost her.  
"What did I do to deserve that?" She teased, still a little tipsy.  
"Are you drunk?" He asked angrily.  
"Maybe," She giggled, putting her hand on his shoulder. He shook her hand away from him.  
"Are you completely retarded? Your liver almost failed, remember that? Remember how you were in the fucking hospital for three weeks? Remember how the doctor said you had to stop drinking? Jesus Christ, Éponine! What the hell do you think you're doing?" He shouted, standing up from the couch angrily.  
"I-I'm sorry," she mumbled, standing up from the couch unsteadily, grasping his arm, "I missed you."  
"I was gone for three hours." He sighed, not resisting her touch.  
"I didn't want to be alone." She pouted, tears coming to her eyes. She hated how weak she was, how something as insignificant as this could make her cry. She'd been a strong person her whole life and lately it felt like she'd been unraveling. She was finally feeling completely all the hurt and despair in her life. Montparnasse frowned and hugged her.  
"You don't have to feel alone. I'll always be watching out for you, okay?" Mont whispered into her hair. She mumbled a response and held on to him tightly.  
"Can you try not to drink? You're gonna screw up your liver again." Mont added gently.  
Éponine frowned. "I'll try." She muttered into his shirt.  
"And I love you." He whispered.  
"I love you too."


	19. Chapter 19

The two months were torture for both Éponine and Montparnasse. Éponine wasn't herself. She barely slept, she stayed up all night weeping. Even when Montparnasse was sleeping right next to her, she felt lonely. All her power dissolved, she was no longer the headstrong girl she'd been her whole life. She cried over every little thing. She would sleep for whole days straight and some days she would just blankly stare at the wall, not talking to Mont, but crying if he tried to leave.

He was so worried about Éponine, he barely slept either. It was like she was a completely different person. All of her stubbornness, the way she would always be singing to herself, her tough attitude, it all seemed to have disappeared. But not completely. Montparnasse could tell the Éponine he knew and loved was still somewhere deep inside the empty pit of a girl he was living with. He couldn't figure out how he should go about helping her. She couldn't live half alive for much longer. He figured all he could do was love her unconditionally.

Day by day, she seemed to be getting better. He couldn't even put into words the joy he felt when he heard her laugh fully for the first time in two months. At this, he tightly pulled her into a hug.

"What was that for?" She asked with the attitude he had missed so much. He grinned. Was she coming back?

"You're more yourself today, 'Ponine." He replied with an impish grin.

"I know," she replied, smiling, "I feel good today. I feel like the last couple months never happened, like they were all a dream."

"You don't remember them?" He frowned.

"Not really. I get a bad feeling when I think about it though." She sighed. He kissed her head gently.

"Then we can just forget they ever happened." He whispered.

She chuckled lightly. "I'd like that." She said, suddenly standing up on the couch so she could reach his height and planting a long kiss on his lips. He swiftly lifted her off the couch and held on to her tightly, continuing to kiss her passionately. She grinned against his lips for a moment and then continued to kiss him firmly.

"I think you can quit going easy on me now." She murmured. He raised an eyebrow and continued to kiss her.

"If you say so" he muttered in response, stumbling blindly to his bedroom as their lips remained intertwined.

"See, I told you I could take it." She grinned a little while later, still a little out of breath. He chuckled and smiled cockily.

"I guess you proved me wrong." He said slyly. He leaned over and kissed her cheek once more before standing up and redressing.

She grinned to herself. She was so glad she finally felt like herself again. She had woken up that morning, hearing the birds chirping and she had just smiled to herself. There were so many wonderful things for her to experience and she just realized it then. That morning, she felt so alive, rejuvenated. And she couldn't say why, it just happened.

"Hey, 'Ponine.." Mont started carefully. She raised her eyebrows in response.

"I have a job. Will you be okay here? I'll bring some food after." He hoped she was ready for this. She nodded quickly.

"Yeah. Go ahead." She smiled. He grinned. He was thrilled she was finally ready to let him leave for a few hours.

And while he was gone, she didn't have any trouble. She curled up in a blanket and worked on her reading. She wasn't great at reading, she always had trouble with it and she had neglected it completely when she was nine, and now that she was twenty-one, she thought she should know by now. Some words just didn't register at all to her, while some sentences made perfect sense. It frustrated her, but she still tried so hard to learn. She got through a chapter of Harry Potter and, satisfied, turned on the TV and waited patiently for Montparnasse to come back.

When he returned, he did so slowly, preparing to deal with a meltdown. He was pleasantly surprised to walk in to a smiling Éponine, throwing the blanket off herself and standing up to greet him. He nodded wordlessly at her and put a brown paper bag on the counter.

"I got Chinese. You into that?" He asked, hoping she wouldn't refuse to eat again.

"Sure," she nodded, "I'm starving." Montparnasse smiled. He was glad to hear it, pulling out cartons from the bag. She stepped past him and went on her tippy-toes to grab some plates from the cabinet. He chuckled.

"You're so short."

"And?" She raised an eyebrow, placing the plates on the counter and putting her hands on her hips.

"It's amusing," he laughed, "because you can't reach anything."

"Why so mean?" She scrunched up her nose and started putting some food on her plate.

"I'm always mean. Have you ever met me?" He teased. Éponine chuckled. It was true, he was a real asshole to everyone else, but to Éponine he was nothing but kind and devoted. She hoisted herself up and sat on the counter, biting into a dumpling.

"I guess short people can sit on counters and stuff, though." He shrugged, leaning against the counter and eating. She nodded, wolfing down her food. She didn't know why she was so hungry. He was just glad to see her eat. She had been refusing to eat lately, or just picking at the food mindlessly if she did agree to sit down.

"You wanna do something tonight? Go out or something?" He asked.

"Sure," she shrugged, "why not?"

"It was fun when we used to terrorize the alleys at night," he chuckled, "how about some of that?"

Éponine grinned, "yes!" She agreed enthusiastically, jumping off the counter and washing off both of their plates.

"Do those weird drunk girls still come around?" Éponine asked. Her and Mont always liked to scare the shit out of them.

Mont shrugged. "I haven't seen them in a while."

"Too bad." Éponine sighed. Mont laughed and nodded in response, looking over at Éponine. She was shivering in her thin shirt. He took of his big leather jacket and draped it over her bony shoulders. She slipped her arms in and crossed her arms to keep warm. He put his arm around her protectively and lead her to the back alleys where they usually hung out. They sat against the wall of an old, run-down apartment building, not looking too carefully.

"I don't see anyone now," Mont shrugged, "but I'm sure someone'll come along." Éponine nodded and reached down to pick at her old combat boots.

"This is boring." She complained, throwing her head back restlessly.

"Quit complaining." He grunted, playing with his lighter, "somebody'll come by soon." She dug around in his coat pocket and pulled out a cigarette, holding it out for him to light. She put it between her lips, sighing out of boredom and putting her head on his shoulder gently.

"Éponine?" A familiar, shrill voice called in the night. Éponine stood up quickly, leaving Mont looking up from the ground confusedly.

"'Zelma?" Éponine responded, jogging over to her sister and hugging her tightly. Azelma grinned. She hadn't seen her sister in months and she had missed her a lot.

"You look different, 'Ponine." Azelma narrowed her eyes.

"Really? You look the same."

"You look really thin," Azelma frowned, "and pale." Éponine shrugged. She was better now, and that's all that mattered. Plus, she didn't want to worry her sister. Azelma's heart leaped as she spotted Montparnasse walking towards them. She grinned.

"'Parnasse! What are you doing here?" She exclaimed, walking to him eagerly. He nodded silently in response and stood next to Éponine.

"Why haven't I seen either of you around?" Azelma asked.

"I was..uh, sick." Éponine answered, puffing on her cigarette again. Azelma nodded.

"And what about you, Montparnasse?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Éponine lives with me now." Montparnasse replied, putting his arm around Éponine instinctively. She leaned into his embrace. Azelma frowned, but tried to hide it. She knew Mont had liked Éponine a few months back, but she didn't know they were together like that.

"Oh," she muttered, "I gotta go. Bye, 'Ponine." Azelma sighed and walked away slowly. Éponine frowned.

"What's up her ass?" Mont asked.

"I don't know. She's acting kinda weird." Éponine frowned. They both shrugged it off and returned to their place sitting by the wall.

After a few hours and nobody coming by, they decided to go back to the apartment, going straight to bed since it was midnight already and they were both tired.

The next morning, Éponine felt like shit. She knew she had probably pushed her small appetite the night before, but she still resented how she had to sit over the toilet for three hours until the feeling passed.

"Are you sick?" Montparnasse asked, walking in and scrunching up his nose at the smell.

"No, I'm in perfect fucking health." She snapped angrily. He rolled his eyes.

"Don't make a mess of my floor."

"Are you serious?" She glared, feeling sick again and putting her head back over the toilet. He groaned and walked out of the bathroom.

After the feeling finally passed, she walked into the living room where he was watching football. She cuddled up next to him and he put his arm around her and sighed.

"You feeling better?" He asked. She nodded and drifted off to sleep on him.


	20. Chapter 20- Big Surprise!

She couldn't tell Montparnasse. She couldn't. He would be furious with her, and she feared he might even leave her. She shook her head quickly and decided to keep it to herself. That could work, couldn't it? She nervously walked out into the hall, shaking a little, not wanting to face Montparnasse. But there he was, sitting on the couch nodding hello at her. She bit her lip anxiously and scurried to the couch so he couldn't see her shaking legs. She curled up next to him. He could tell something was off. He looked at her worriedly. She wasn't falling back into her depression, was she? His heart skipped a beat. He couldn't stand to see it happen again.

"'Ponine, what's wrong?" He asked carefully. Her eyebrows shot up.

"N-nothing," she stammered, not realizing how tightly she was grasping his arm. He looked at her, puzzled. He knew there was something wrong, very wrong

"There's no point in lying to me," he sighed, "might as well tell me what's on your pretty little mind." He put his free arm around her. She shook her head wordlessly in response. He sighed heavily.

"You'd better tell me what's wrong right now or I'll find out in a way you don't want..." He started threateningly. She cut in

"I can't tell you because you'll be mad." She muttered.

"Just tell me. I promise I won't be mad." said Montparnasse, though his temper wasn't something he could exactly control too well. Worry filled her eyes, and that worried him too. What was she hiding? Had she killed someone or something like that?

"Okay, don't be mad..." She started nervously. He groaned, annoyed.

"I'm pregnant." She whispered, putting her head down shamefully. He stood up from the couch quickly, his expression wild.

"What?" He shrieked, "are you fucking kidding me? Fuck!" He paced around frantically, running his hands through his hair. Éponine glared and stood up, following him down the hall.

"It's not my fault!" She protested, crossing her arms, "do you think I wanted this?"

"Can you just...can you just leave me alone, 'Ponine?" He groaned, slamming the bedroom door in her face.

"Come on, Mont! Open the fucking door! Can we be adults about this?" Éponine sighed. She had mixed feelings. She'd always wanted her own little person to love unconditionally, but she felt guilty. She wasn't ready to be a mother. She didn't want the baby until she could give him or her everything, everything she never had.

"Go away, Éponine!" He bellowed, sitting on the bed, rubbing his temples. He couldn't be a father! He only cared about himself and Éponine. He didn't think he had the capacity to love anyone else.

"You said you wouldn't be mad!" She whined, slumping down against his door.

"I'm not mad," he clenched his jaw, "I just need to think, so please leave me alone." Éponine sighed and stood up, walking away and sitting down on the living room couch, waiting for Mont to calm down. She hugged her knees to her chest as a single tear ran down her face.

She wasn't sure how long she was sitting there, but eventually she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up sadly.

"What?" She asked, expecting to be yelled at or neglected.

"I'm sorry I freaked out," Mont sighed, sitting down next to her and hugging her tightly, "it's just..this is really big, Éponine."

"I know it is," Éponine nodded, "but you'll stay with me, right?" He nodded and kissed her cheek. She smiled slightly and leaned into him.

"Mont?" She asked in a tone barely above a whisper.

"What is it?" He asked gently.

"I want to keep it." She muttered, running her hand over her stomach.

"Are you sure?" He asked uncertainly. She nodded decisively.

"I'm positive."

"But, 'Ponine..." He protested without much strength.

"Montparnasse," She argued, "It's my baby and I'm keeping it. And if you don't want to be a part of his or her life..y-you can leave. We'll get on without you." She started unsure, but ended on a strong note. She knew what she was doing. Montparnasse nodded slowly, "Alright. I'll try my best, but I'm not sure how good a father I'll be."

"I'm sure you'll be fine," she smiled softly, "and I want to be the best too."

"You will be, 'Ponine," he grinned, "you're wonderful." She planted a quick kiss on his nose and stood up.

"Are you going to tell your little friends?" He asked, with a slight note of bitterness. Éponine shrugged. "Yeah, I guess I will." She felt guilty, though. For the last couple months, Cosette, Grantaire and Marius had all tried to call her and get in touch with her but she hadn't responded to any of them. They must've thought she'd completely fallen off the face of the earth.

"Do you think I should call them now?" She asked, picking up her phone.

"Why not?" He shrugged. She nodded and went into the bathroom to make her call in private.

"Éponine?" Grantaire answered quickly, "where the hell have you been? I thought you died or something. Where were you?"

"Whoa," she chuckled, "calm down. I was sick or something."

"Oh. I missed you a lot." He said gently.

"You did?" She smiled. She was glad somebody did, it felt good.

"Yeah, we all did. We tried calling you a bunch. What did you have, anyways?"

"Mono," she lied quickly, sighing for dramatic affect.

"That sucks," Grantaire sighed.

"Yeah, I know. But there's something else I need to tell you. Please don't be mad." She gnawed anxiously on her fingernails.

"Oh God." He groaned.

"I'm pregnant..." She muttered. The words still felt odd on her lips, not completely adjusted. She winced, waiting for his reply.

"Pregnant?" He exclaimed incredulously, "Shit, Éponine."

"It's not a problem, 'Taire. I'm keeping it." She gulped.

"Really? Are you sure about that?" He asked unsurely.

"Positive." She sighed exhaustedly.

"Well, then I'm happy for you," he said with a small smile, though she couldn't see it.

"Thanks," she smiled, "I knew you'd pull through."

"How's Montparnasse dealing with all this?" Grantaire asked as soon as the thought came to him. He couldn't imagine Mont handling it too well.

"He's fine," Éponine answered, "he was kinda freaked out, but I talked to him. We're keeping it."

"Great," Grantaire nodded, hearing Enjolras call him in the distance. This made him spring up from his seat, "gotta go, 'Ponine. I missed you." He hung up. She chuckled to herself. She knew how he answered to Enjolras.

"How'd it go with your weird overprotective friend with the freckles?" Montparnasse asked putting his feet up on the table.

"Marius?" She sighed, "I haven't got around to telling him yet.." She hadn't even thought about that yet, but she could just imagine how it would go. He'd first yell at her for having premarital sex, then he'd get around to yelling at her for having it with Montparnasse. She wondered how she'd ever liked him. She used to find his lectures and overprotectiveness endearing but now she found it super annoying.

"He's gonna freak out." Mont chuckled, gesturing for her to sit next to him. Éponine groaned. "Oh, I know."

"So, Ép." Mont started putting his arm around her as usual.

"Yes?"

"Let's talk about stuff." He suggested.

"Like what stuff?"

"Baby stuff. I don't know. Are you gonna tell your folks?"

"Of course not!" She scrunched up her nose, "I don't want them having any part in this. I don't want to see them ever again."

"That's gonna be pretty hard when they live a few blocks away." Mont sighed.

"Well, whatever," Éponine grunted, "I'll ignore them."

"What about Azelma?" Mont asked.

"What about her?" Éponine asked, picking at her nails furiously.

"Are you planning on disowning her too?"

"I don't know. I don't really give a shit either way." She shrugged.

"What a kind and loving sister you are." Mont chuckled. "I sure hope you'll be a better mother." He joked.

"I will," she said, completely serious, "I'll give my little baby everything. Don't you wanna give our baby everything?"

"Sure." He shrugged. He was rather indifferent about the whole subject of the baby. He would do what Éponine asked, but he certainly wouldn't go above and beyond parenting-wise. It didn't bother him that the child would most definitely love mommy more.

"And if it's a girl, I was thinking Emilie is a pretty name, don't you think? And for a boy, I was thinking something like David is cute, right?" She was beyond excited, she'd at some point gotten up and started pacing around the apartment, thinking about the baby.

"Sounds good." Montparnasse shrugged, turning his attention back to the TV.

Éponine opened her phone to see

**Hey Éponine! R told me you had big news (he wouldn't tell me what :( ) and I was wondering if you and Montparnasse wanted to come to dinner with me and Marius tonight**

**-Cosette**

She sighed. She wanted to hang out with Cosette, of course since she was a nice friends but there were a couple problems in the scenario. Firstly, Marius would lecture her for sure. Secondly, she wasn't sure if Mont would ever agree to this. She entered the living room timidly.

"You wanna go out with my friends tonight? They really want to." She pleaded. Mont looked up from the TV and grimaced. No, he did not want to go out with Éponine's friends.

"I really don't want to." Montparnasse groaned, taking his feet off the table and sitting up.

"Please," Éponine begged, "just this once! Please, please!" She tried out her best puppy eyes. Her father had taught her the puppy eyes very well.

"Fine," he grunted, "but I'm not trying too hard to be nice."

"Ugh fine," she shrugged, "be an asshole. Just come."


	21. Chapter 21

"You ready?" Éponine asked, putting her hairbrush down and looking to Montparnasse.

"Yeah." He grunted, following her out the door sluggishly. She reached back and took his hand, dragging him along.

"We're meeting right down the street at the little Italian place." Éponine informed him, a few paces ahead of him still, shivering in the cold. Montparnasse sighed and caught up to her, quickly taking off his leather jacket and draping it over her shoulders. She looked up at him with a small smile.

"You need to remember your own goddamn jacket sometimes." He muttered with a chuckle, taking her hand firmly. She shrugged and laughed softly, pulling him along around the corner.

"Try to be a little nice, okay?" She sighed as she spotted Marius and Cosette and waved enthusiastically. Mont groaned something inaudible in response, trying to keep up with her as she jogged over excitedly.

"Éponine!" Cosette grinned excitedly, hugging her as she came over, "it's been too long!"

"I know! I missed you." Éponine smiled. Marius smiled and hugged her quickly.

"Hi, 'Ponine," he smiled, "I missed you." It was only then that Mont came over, frowning.

"Hi!" Cosette greeted him cheerily. He nodded reluctantly in response, still frowning. Éponine gave him an exasperated look. He rolled his eyes in response.

They went inside the restaurant and sat down, Éponine made sure Montparnasse sat on the inside so he couldn't run away. He glared at Éponine as they sat down. She swatted him lightly.

They made small talk until the waiter came with their drinks and then Cosette grinned and took a quick sip.

"Ok, so now you have to tell me!" Cosette trilled excitedly, looking at Éponine expectantly. Éponine chuckled lightly, preparing to tell her, while Mont sat indignantly in the corner.

"Okay, okay," Éponine grinned, "it's really big!" Cosette's eyes lit up.

"Oh, go in! I can't wait!" She leaned in across the table so she was closer to Éponine.

"I'm pregnant." Éponine said. Marius choked on his water. Montparnasse, for the first time, laughed.

"You're what?" Marius' eyes widened. Cosette patted his shoulder lightly.

"You are, Éponine? That's great!" Cosette grinned, "congratulations!"

"Thank you!" Éponine grinned, reaching for Mont's hand and holding it tightly.

Marius furrowed his brow, "What's the plan?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" Éponine sighed. She knew Marius wouldn't approve.

"I mean are you going to keep the baby?"

"Of course I am." Éponine answered quickly, exhaling loudly. Cosette gave Marius a look and turned back to Éponine with a small smile.

"I'm so excited for you two!" Cosette squealed, observing the pair. Éponine grinned and nodded quickly, while Mont just glared into the distance.

"Sorry about Montparnasse," Éponine sighed, looking at him pointedly, "he's just...tired."

"I'm not tired, 'Ponine," 'Parnasse growled, "I don't know why I had to come he-"

"Shut up," she muttered, embarrassedly turning back to her friends and giving a small smile. An awkward silence ensued. Cosette and Marius exchanged a look, Mont glared into the distance and Éponine looked down at her lap silently. The silence was broken when the waiter came with their food finally.

"Enjoy your meal." He said, setting down the plates.

"Thanks, you too." Marius called, not realizing how stupid that was. Éponine tried to stifle a laugh, but instead laughed out loud, joined by Cosette, and even among gave a small chuckle.

"What?" Marius asked with confusion, turning red. Cosette just shook her head in response and began eating.

"So, Éponine," Marius cleared his throat.

"Yes, Marius?" She sighed exasperatedly.

"How are you going to provide a stable environment for your child?"

"I don't know, Marius. I've got nine months to think about it."

"Oh Éponine," he groaned, "you have to be prepared for this. A child is a big responsibility. You can't just blow it off because you get bored or something."

"Well, you don't have to worry about me 'blowing it off' because I'll love my child and that's my plan. Is that good enough for you?" She snapped. Marius nodded and resigned, finishing his food. Once everybody had finished, Marius paid the bill and him and Cosette left quickly.

So the dinner date hadn't been much of a success at all. Marius had left in an angry huff, Éponine was pissed of and Montparnasse was annoyed as well. Only Cosette was left to leave with Marius and talk him down.

"Why couldn't you just act like a normal person for once?" Éponine fumed, walking quickly out of the restaurant with Montparnasse trailing behind.

"You can't just expect me to hang out with your annoying friends like I want to be there. What the hell is up that kid's ass anyways?" Mont scowled.

"You don't have to like him," Éponine rolled her eyes, "but at least don't act like a complete asshole. This was supposed to be fun."

"For you." He muttered, stepping in front of her to get into the apartment. She watched irritatedly as he slammed the bedroom door. Why did he always have to be so difficult? She groaned and laid down on the couch, falling asleep only a few minutes later.

When she woke up, she discovered Mont had covered her in the fuzzy green blanket and she looked to the kitchen where he was unloading groceries. How long had she been asleep?

"Hey," she muttered groggily, standing up and stumbling into the kitchen.

"Hey, love." He smiled, kissing her head, as if they hadn't been fighting.

"Whatcha got there?" She asked, looking at the bags.

"I don't know," he shrugged, "stuff I thought you might like." She smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"If only you were this cute to everyone, people might like you." She chuckled into his shirt.

"I don't need people to like me. I like myself." He winked.

"No winking," she reminded him with a laugh. He chuckled and lifted her, placing her on the counter. She dangled her legs over the edge. He kissed her cheek quickly on his way too the fridge.

"Do you think I'll be a good mom?" She asked suddenly, her tone softening. She didn't want to keep the baby if it meant the kid would have a terrible life because of her. She didn't want to be like her mother at all. Montparnasse stopped and turned to face her.

"Of course I do." He said with a small smile.

"No, really," she sighed, "what do you really think?"

"I honestly think you'll be perfect. Hell, don't listen to Marius. What does he know?" Mont said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"You don't think I'll be.." She trailed off and sighed deeply.

"You'll be nothing like your mother." He assured her knowingly, putting both his hands on her shoulders and facing her. She smiled a little and nodded.

"I believe you." She murmured, jumping off the counter and hugging him tightly, not wanting to let go. He hugged her back, running his hands over her dark hair.

"Mont?" She asked into his shirt.

"Yes?"

"Do you want this?"

"I'm indifferent." He shrugged. She pulled back.

"Indifferent?" She asked, furrowing her brow.

"Yeah. I don't care."

"Well you should care!" She exclaimed, "it's your kid, too! You can't go half ass on this. Do you want our kid to be the one who's dad doesn't love them, who's dad never shows up for recitals and games? Are you going to be the father who doesn't give a shit, Mont?" Her eyes were beginning to fill with tears, which slowly started pouring down her face. He shook his head and wiped her tears with his thumb. He knew why she was so upset, why the baby having a good father meant so much to her.

"No," he answered softly, "I won't be that father. I'll try my best." He assured her, rubbing her shoulders soothingly.

"What's your best, Mont?" She asked quietly.

"My best is loving him or her," he said, "and that's all I can promise." Éponine nodded and sat on the couch, pulling her knees to her chest.

"Mont?" She asked yet again. He closed his eyes for a moment and then responded, "what?"

"You're not going to..to hurt it are you?" She asked shakily. She knew she was currently the only person he wouldn't even think about hurting. Did he have the capacity to love someone else just as much.

He frowned, "Never," he shook his head quickly, "why would you think I would do that?"

"Because I saw you hit my sister." She replied quietly.

"What?" His eyebrows shot up.

"I saw you hit Azelma. She was crying and you hit her. I saw it happen."

"That was so long ago, 'Ponine..." He sighed.

"It was only a year ago, Mont." She retorted bluntly.

"Well, that's different."

"How is it different?" Éponine asked.

"She was like sixteen!"

"Someday our kid's gonna be sixteen. Would that make it okay to hit them?" She snapped, standing up quickly and marching over to Mont.

"No, I'm telling you it's different, 'Ponine.." He said quickly.

"Fine," she fumed, "I don't know if that's true, but here's what I do know: if you lay a hand on our child at any point in their life I will leave and never look back and I will sue your sorry ass. Is that clear?" She pointed a finger at Mont angrily.

"Yes." He muttered, crossing his arms.

"Good." She said through her teeth, storming off to the spare room where they were planning on making a nursery. She sat on the carpeted floor with her head in her hands. What if she couldn't give the child everything? What if their childhood was just as shitty as hers? She couldn't let that happen again. She knew she could be a good mom, but she was worried about Montparnasse, who was very, well, rough around the edges. She knew he would always love her, but his approach to the rest of the world was rather hostile. She hoped he could love their baby as much as her. She hoped he would really pull through for her. For them


	22. Chapter 22

"Ponine?" Mont called softly as he entered the room where she sat. She turned her head slowly and gave him a small smile.

"I got a job tonight. I might not be back til late." He said, squatting down next to her for a moment.

"Good luck." She said blankly, her eyes on the carpeted floor.

He sighed loudly. He knew he'd fucked up somehow, again. He knew Éponine deserved better, but selfishly he would never stop loving her. And she loved him, she really did. Montparnasse knew she did, but he also knew she deserved someone who had never been in jail, someone who could be friendly. Most of all, someone who wasn't a constant reminder of what a terrible life she had so far endured. She didn't need to be in that world anymore, the world of robbery and lies and deceit. She could fly away now, meet a nice boy and settle down. Her father was done hunting her down, the gang was done harassing her. But instead, she chose Montparnasse. She chose to live, essentially, in constant danger, constantly having to defend him, having to hide from the law even. And he knew that Éponine shouldn't be condemned her whole life. She was a good person, she should be with a good person. Montparnasse knew he was not a good person, his love for her did not redeem him and yet, he would always love her and hope she did the same, as she held what little bit of a heart he had.

"Alright, 'Ponine," he muttered, "I love you."

"Love you.." She murmured as he walked away. He didn't hear it, but it was almost as if he could feel it. He knew it was there.

As she was left alone, she paced around the apartment purposefully, thinking, though it was hard to think with so many thoughts clouding up her brain at once. She had no idea if Mont would ever hurt their child, she had no way of knowing. He was unpredictable, he was hard to read. As she promised, she would leave him if he got violent. She couldn't let her precious little baby live like she did, she couldn't bear to see someone she loved suffer like she did. And she already knew she loved her baby unconditionally. In the case of Mont being violent, she would have to leave him. True, her heart would still beat for him but she had no choice. She wasn't going to allow herself to take any shit from him. Maybe he would be everything she hoped, though. Maybe she didn't need to worry, maybe she was wasting her time and stress. She hoped this was the case.

"Montparnasse!" Called a familiar, menacing voice through the door. "You owe me, and if I don't get the money I'll bash your head in! Montparnasse, lemme in!" Éponine's eyes widened. It was her father.

"Montparnasse, if you don't open up I'll kick the door down!" Thénardier warned in a growl. Éponine scurried to the empty room and shut the door as quietly as she could, breathing heavily.

Sure enough, Thénardier did keep his promise, kicking the door down and breaking into the apartment, throwing things all over the place in a desperate search for money. He kept calling Montparnasse's name, to no avail. Éponine bit down hard on her lip as she heard him enter the bedroom just across the hall and rummage through it wildly, mumbling something inaudible. He would come into the room where she hid next, she knew it. There was nowhere to hide, it was an empty room. All she could do was muster up the courage to face him.

The door burst open and he didn't see her for a moment. When he did, an evil smile crossed his lips.

"Ah, so I see 'Parnasse is shacking up with the little slut, eh?" He crooned, grabbing her arm roughly and leaning so closely she could smell his foul breath. "I always knew it'd happen." He added, still grasping her arm tightly and looking around the room.

"So where's lover boy hiding, eh?" He spat.

"He's not here." Éponine said through her teeth, glaring up at her father.

"Are you lying to me, 'Ponine? My own dear daughter?" He sneered. Éponine struggled to get out of his grip, but he only held on tighter.

"I'm not lying," Éponine grunted, "if he was here you'd have found him by now."

"Not necessarily. Maybe he's hidin' real well this time."

"You can look as hard as you want, he's not here."

"Do you know where he keeps his stash, sweetheart?"

"Don't call me sweetheart, you bastard." Éponine spat.

"That's not a very nice word to call your father. Call me by the right name, now."

"No." Éponine growled. Thénardier threw her roughly against the wall, tightening his grip around her arm.

"Call me by the right name, 'Ponine."

"No I don't know where the money is," she said through her teeth, "papa." He chuckled and nodded.

"Get out of here." She demanded.

"Oh, that's cute 'Ponine," he laughed sickly, "but I'm not gonna take your advice." Éponine, with one swift move, kicked her father in the stomach with such force he stumbled back and fell against the wall, doubling over in pain. As soon as he fell, she sprinted out of the room and barricaded the door quickly, or as quickly as she could. Thénardier knocked on the door wildly, shouting insults at Éponine, who stood by the door, prepared to grab a knife from the kitchen if she needed to. She knew her father would have one with him, he always did.

The fact that her father could do easily put her in danger worried her. This meant he could just as easily break in and hurt her baby if he ever found out about it. She couldn't have that kind of danger around them. Her only choice was to get rid of him somehow. She picked up her cell phone and quietly dialed 911, putting her hand over the phone so her father couldn't hear.

"There's an intruder in my home." She said quietly, calmly, to the receiver. After giving the operator the information, she said they would send officers right away. She let out a sigh of relief as she saw two officers stepping over the rubble that was Mont's door. She hoped he wouldn't be mad at her for calling the cops, she hoped there was nothing to incriminate Montparnasse in the house.

"Where's the intruder?" The officer asked, looking around the apartment.

"He's in that room there." She said, pointing to the barricaded door, behind which Thénardier was quiet. He was probably trying to figure some clever way to break out. She rushed to the door to get the furniture out of the officers' way.

As the officers opened the door, Thénardier's mouth dropped open. He was holding his knife in front of him, so that was pretty damn incriminating.

"Hello, officers." He said with a sly smile.

"You're coming with us, buddy." One officer said as they each took of one his arms roughly. He turned around to Éponine and gave her a cold, menacing glare.

"You'll regret this, 'Ponine!" He called as he was being carried out.

Éponine's eyes widened and she breathed heavily, staggering to the couch and curling up in a ball. How long would her father spend in custody? What if he escaped? That only meant he would hurt her more. Her stomach twisted. Tears ran down her face. She was terrified at the possibility of him escaping, but the idea of him being gone was so freeing. She couldn't explain why she was weeping, but she remained so until she had cried herself to sleep.

As soon as Montparnasse saw the mess of his door, he ran inside.

"Éponine! Éponine!" He called, his eyes moving frantically around the apartment until he saw her asleep. She woke with a start, sitting up suddenly.

"Éponine, what happened?" Mont asked, rushing to her side.

"N-nothing.." She muttered, in a stupid sleep-induced haze thinking that maybe he wouldn't investigate further. Considering the fact that the door had been kicked down, she couldn't really hide it.

"Tell me what happened." He demanded.

"M-my father came. He was looking for you. I thought he was going to hurt me so I called the police." She said quickly, hoping he wouldn't be mad for her summoning the police.

"God, I'm sorry, 'Ponine." He sighed, wrapping his arms around her gently. She shook her head quickly. "No, it's alright. I dealt with it. It's over."

"Sorry I wasn't here." He murmured into her hair.

"It's okay, Mont," she said, "really it is. I'm sorry he had to break down your door."

"Eh," Mont shrugged, "I know a guy who does doors." He was guilty again. None of this would have happened if Éponine was with someone else, if she didn't live with Montparnasse. Being with Mont only brought her closer to the life she never wanted to have that she had been stuck in. Montparnasse wished there was a way they could be together with it hurting her so much. And he wanted her to be happy, but he couldn't bear living without her. He would never tell her how he felt, afraid she would leave, even though she should leave. She should fly away from the hell she'd been living, she finally had wings, but being with Montparnasse cut her wings. She was willing to give up her wings for him.

As they went to bed that night, all Éponine could do was think about how much danger her life would be in if her father escaped. She couldn't sleep at all. Sensing her distress, Montparnasse couldn't sleep either. They lay silently, not facing each other and wide awake. They both wanted each other badly, but couldn't tell whether the other was awake.

"Mont?" Éponine whispered, breaking the silence. He rolled over to face her and nodded.

"I can't sleep." She sighed, cuddling up against him. He put his arm over her small frame.

"Me neither." He grunted.

"Can we just talk?" She asked, reaching up to turn on the lamp beside the bed.

"Of course we can," Montparnasse murmured.

"What color should we paint the nursery? Like, what's a color that could be for either a boy or girl?" She started, running her index finger down his arm slowly.

"What about yellow? Or green?" Mont suggested.

"Ooh, yellow!" She grinned, "I think we should do yellow." Mont smiled at her excitement. "Yellow it is." Mont said.

"Aren't you excited, Mont?" Éponine asked, grinning.

"Yes." He answered blankly. She knew he wasn't, it didn't bother her as much anymore as much as she wanted him to share her enthusiasm.

"Okay," she sighed, "Now I'm tired. Night, love."

"Night, 'Ponine." He said with a chuckle.

This time, they both fell asleep within a few minutes.


	23. Chapter 23

After four months, Éponine was definitely showing. And this bothered her a lot, because she felt so limited. When she was in public, she felt like people were looking at her in a different way than she might've liked.

She now knew that if she wanted to see her friends, she shouldn't invite Montparnasse along. She had been spending a lot of time with Cosette, shopping, watching movies, gossiping about Marius's friends. Cosette had all the inside information on who was dating who and who were fighting and Éponine was quite interested to hear all of it.

"Éponine!" Cosette called, catching up to her on the sidewalk. Cosette had agreed to go baby shopping with Éponine, because Mont showed no interest.

"So, Ép," Cosette started, pushing a lock of brown hair out of her eyes, "What's your doctor saying?"

"My doctor?" Éponine said, furrowing her brow.

"Oh gosh, Éponine," Cosette's eyes widened, "please tell me you're not serious."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Éponine snapped.

"Since you found out you were pregnant, have you seen a doctor?"

"No. Why the hell would I need to see a doctor? I think I know what I'm doing." She crossed her arms indignantly.

"Éponine, you have to. Everybody does." Cosette sighed. She was trying her very best to deal with Éponine's bad attitude recently, but she was running out of patience.

"I'll go if I want to, and I don't." Éponine said through gritted teeth.

"Éponine you don't have a choice if you want to do this safely. I cannot believe you haven't done this already."

"Fine, I'll go," Éponine grunted, "that means you have to stop yelling at me."

"I'm not yelling at you. I was literally just talking."

"Fine, whatever," Éponine shrugged, getting into Cosette's car next to her.

"So," Cosette said, trying to change the mood for the better, "where are we going? The mall?"

"Sure," Éponine nodded, trying to be nicer. She knew she was probably getting on Cosette's nerves. But it was pretty fucking hard to be in a good mood when she felt like complete and utter shit.

"So how are things with you and Montparnasse?" Cosette asked gently as they walked into the baby clothes store.

"Fine," Éponine shrugged, running her hand over the soft fabric of a cute froggie onesie. She picked it up and slung it over her arm.

"Fine?" Cosette prodded, curious as ever. She hoped it wouldn't set Éponine off again.

"Yes, fine," Éponine snapped, "just as it sounds."

"Are you sure? You seem a little..I don't know. Upset?" Cosette tried, walking slowly behind Éponine, who was digging around in a pile of unisex onesies. Éponine sighed. She did need to vent. "I just feel like he doesn't care."

"About you?" Cosette asked with a frown.

"No, about the baby. Like I know this isn't exactly what he wanted but he could at least try." Éponine pouted, still actively looking through the clothes as she spoke.

"Oh, Ép, I'm sure he cares. Maybe he just doesn't want to look like a softie?" Cosette tried.

"Maybe." Éponine said, trying to end the conversation. Cosette nodded, sensing Éponine was done talking about it.

"Aw, look at this one!" Éponine cooed, picking up an animal-themed onesie.

"That's precious!" Cosette grinned, continuing to look through the pile.

After a little while, they'd picked out quite a few cute onesies that looked like they could work for both boys and girls. Once they checked out, Cosette pulled Éponine aside.

"Where did you get all that money?" She asked with a sigh.

"Mont." She answered shortly.

"Did he...steal it?" Cosette asked nervously. She always knew Montparnasse wasn't exactly a law abiding citizen, but the whole idea of him being a thief made her anxious, especially with them about to have a child.

"No, he didn't." Éponine lied with a slight note of anger. She knew what he did, and it didn't bother her at all. Money is money, right?

"Then how did he get it? Where does he work?"

"His parents are loaded." Éponine fibbed effortlessly. Cosette sighed, having a feeling this was a lie but deciding not to continue further.

"I'm so excited!" Cosette squealed suddenly as they got back in the car, trying to brighten the mood. This put a smile on Éponine's face.

"I know! Me too!" Éponine grinned, "I'm sorry I've been such an asshole lately." She added with a sigh.

"I understand." Cosette said with a small smile, which then faded when a thought entered her mind. "Hey, Éponine?"

"What?" Éponine asked worriedly, observing her friend's frown.

"Did you..did you like Marius?" She asked, biting her lip. Éponine's eyes widened noticeably. She had to confess. "Who told you?" She asked loudly. She had turned completely red.

"Well Grantaire kinda told me," Cosette sighed, "and he was drunk, but I don't know. I thought I'd ask. Did you, though?"

Éponine sighed heavily. "Yeah. I did."

"When?"

"I liked him for a really long time. It was stupid." She said, chuckling, though really she felt guilty, even though it was over. And not to mention, this was sort of awkward for both parties.

"No, it's not," Cosette frowned, "and when did you stop?"

"While I was in the hospital I guess." She winced. It was pretty recent and she hoped it wouldn't make Cosette hate her. Cosette bit her lip. She felt so guilty. She had been with Marius while Éponine was in love with him? She couldn't imagine how much that would've hurt her.

"I'm sorry, Ép..." Cosette said with a sincere frown.

"I don't care anymore," Éponine shrugged, "I'm with Mont now, anyways."

"So you don't like him anymore?"

"Not at all."

"Mont!" Éponine called as she entered the apartment. The door was back. He sauntered into the kitchen.

"Hey, love." He smiled, kissing her lips gently.

"I got some stuff," she smiled, showing him the clothes. He gave a small smile.

"Those are cute." He said, playing with the little button eyes on the froggie onesie.

"I know! The baby will look so adorable in these." She grinned, folding them all back up and putting them in the bag for safe keeping.

"Oh, and you know what else?" Éponine said, grabbing some of her favorite mint ice cream out of the freezer.

"Mm?" He looked up.

"I think I need to see a doctor or something." She murmured, curling up on the couch next to him with her ice cream.

"For what?"

"The baby, stupid." She rolled her eyes, "apparently that's a thing you absolutely have to do."

"Where the hell are we supposed to go? The hospital?"

"I don't know. I'll check it out." She shrugged.

"Alright." He muttered, putting his arm around her. She was worried, very worried when Cosette told her she should've been seeing a doctor all along. She was still incredibly nervous hours later. This wouldn't end up hurting the baby, would it? Times like these made her wish she could drink again. She sighed and put her head on Mont's arm.

"Mont?"

"Yes, love?"

"What are we going to tell the kid you do for a job?" Éponine asked seriously. Obviously, it would come up. Every kid knew what their parents did. When Éponine was little it was obvious her parents were inn keepers, though it wasn't quite obvious that they were robbing all their guests, at least not to her at the time.

"I don't know. I feel like I could pull off being a dashing doctor."

"I think that would be a little far-fetched." Éponine chuckled.

"How about a banker, then? That seems pretty realistic." Mont suggested, lovingly wiping green ice cream off the tip of her nose.

"Fine, Mr. Banker." She said with a smile. He laughed and stood up quickly.

"Shit. I'm s'posed to meet someone now." He cursed, rushing out.

"Who?" She called, standing up after him. He was already gone. She sighed. Alone again. She sang quietly to herself and sat back down on the couch, bored. She could not handle the silence, the boredom. She decided, why not take a nice night walk?

The crisp air felt good, she walked quickly, purposefully even though she had absolutely nowhere to be. She liked the sounds of police sirens and dogs barking, cars rushing. They were all comforting and beat the silence of an empty apartment any day. She continued to walk, looking down at her feet until she heard footsteps behind her. Out of instinct, she pressed herself up against the brick wall, right next to the dumpster.

"I see someone over there, 'Sous." She heard an extremely familiar voice say in a sick kind of tone.

"Hello?" Claquesous called into the alley. Éponine didn't answer.

"We know you're there, there's no use in hiding. Or running." Montparnasse snarled. Éponine was breathing heavily, still up against the wall with no reply.

"You leave us no choice." Claquesous said, him and Montparnasse both lunging at her. Montparnasse stopped suddenly and dropped his knife.

"Éponine, what are you-" he started, putting his arm in front of Claquesous so he couldn't hurt her.

"If it isn't Thénardiers little slut!" Claquesous laughed, "'Parnasse, why don't we take her out of her misery, yeah?"

"N-no.. I don't think we should." Mont stammered, Éponine's terrified expression making his stomach twist.

"Why? Are you still in love with her, 'Parnasse? I didn't tell ya you could come on jobs again for this shit. If you wanna let her go, fine. You're goin' with her!" He bellowed, walking away into the shadows.

"What the hell are you doing out here, 'Ponine?" Mont asked angrily, walking back to the apartment with her.

"I was just taking a walk."

"You could've fucking died! And now I lost my jobs!" He growled, a few paces in front of her.

"I'm sorry that I'm not allowed to walk! I didn't know you and your stupid friends own the fucking city." She snapped, crossing her arms indignantly.

"Why didn't you run when you heard us?"

"I didn't hear you until it was too late. He would've shot me." She argued as they entered the apartment.

"I'm sorry, okay?" She frowned. Her frown melted him, as usual.

"No, I'm sorry," he sighed, "you don't deserve this."


	24. Chapter 24

"Ép!" Cosette squeaked as she rushed over to her by the cafe. Éponine had decided to join the boys at a meeting, even though she wasn't feeling very well, Cosette had convinced her.

"Someone's excited." Éponine grunted, trying to muster a small smile.

"Oh, Ép you'll never guess what!" Cosette grinned widely. Éponine raised an eyebrow, slightly amused at Cosette's excitement.

"Marius and I are getting married!" She said in sing-song, excitedly showing Éponine her ring.

"Oh, that's great!" Éponine grinned, squeezing Cosette's hand. She really was so excited for them. They'd been together about eight months, and even though it hadn't been too long everyone had been waiting for this.

"I'm telling you first." Cosette confided, still wearing a gigantic grin. Éponine hugged her tightly. "That's so exciting, Cosette! I'm so happy for you!" And she was so glad that she really was happy for them, the both of them. It had been a pretty long time since she'd had feelings for Marius, but she still remembered exactly what it felt like to watch them, so in love while she had the same feelings for him. It had broken her heart every time, but now she could truly be happy for her two friends.

"Come on, let's go in!" Cosette hummed, taking Éponine's hand and pulling her in. Éponine followed behind, excited but still a little sluggish.

"Ladies!" Courfeyrac waved them over to the corner of the cafe where all the boys were seated. Marius was grinning ear to ear, waiting for Cosette to give the news to the others. She had told him she would do it. And of course, as always, what Cosette says goes in that relationship. Combeferre and Joly were engrossed in a sudoku puzzle, while Enjolras and Grantaire bickered and the other boys absorbed it, some watching the puzzlers in a bored manner, some chuckling at the argument Enjolras and Grantaire were having. Éponine laughed quietly to herself. In the four or five months she'd spent not seeing any of the boys, the dynamic certainly hadn't changed.

"'Ponine!" Grantaire called, turning away from Enjolras who sighed loudly and walked over to Combeferre and Joly. "You look..um. Pregnant."

"You really know what a girl wants to hear, don't you?" Éponine said sarcastically.

"Fine. You look gorgeous." Grantaire joked, using a high-pitched mocking voice. Éponine rolled her eyes and turned back to Cosette, grinning.

"Why don't you tell them now?" She whispered. Cosette shook her head, mouthing "wait".

"Where's your boyfriend, 'Ponine?" Courfeyrac called.

"Work." She answered with a shrug. Cosette bit her lip to keep from speaking up.

"Where does he work?" Marius asked curiously.

"The bank." Éponine answered quickly, perhaps a little too quickly. Cosette exhaled loudly. Éponine shot her a glare, a we'll-talk-about-it-later look.

"Too bad," Courf sighed, "I wanted to meet him."

"You've met him." Grantaire said, pursing his lips.

"It's not that lanky guy from months ago or something, is it?" Courfeyrac asked, confused. He had assumed Éponine was with someone else. Surely a relationship couldn't last with someone like Éponine's Scary Friend, as they called Mont. Éponine's indignant glare was answer enough to his question.

"So it is him. Maybe instead of Éponine's Scary Friend, we can call him Éponine's Scary Baby Daddy." Courfeyrac cracked. The other boys, save Marius, laughed loudly. Éponine sighed heavily and rolled her eyes.

"Call him whatever you want." She grunted, finally sitting down next to Cosette. Momentarily, she would look at Cosette, but Cosette would always just shake her head subtly. Marius sat down between Cosette and Éponine, who was glowering at nothing in particular. Her small amount of patience had almost completely run out at this point.

"Are you okay, 'Ponine?" Marius asked, furrowing his brow. She blinked a few times and nodded. "Yeah."

"How have you been feeling?" He asked in an awkward way, trying to keep up the conversation. He felt bad that he and Éponine, who he had considered a good friend, had grown apart so much. Sure, he was a little upset over the whole Montparnasse thing, but they were still friends.

"Shitty." She replied blankly.

"U-uh, sorry to hear that." Marius stammered. Éponine shrugged and turned away slightly. Marius gave Cosette a helpless look. She looked back at him with a shrug and faced Éponine again.

"Do you want me to take you home?" Cosette asked gently. Éponine felt like shit, and it was clear to Cosette.

"I don't want to go home," Éponine growled, "and even if I did I wouldn't need your help. I am not incapacitated." At that, Cosette was silent Marius was, if possible, even more silent, looking down at his lap awkwardly.

"Sorry." Éponine muttered, crossing her arms over her protruding stomach.

The three sat in an awkward silence for a few more minutes until Cosette suddenly tapped Éponine's shoulder with a grin. Éponine grinned back, knowing it was time. She sat back as Cosette stood up and took Marius's hand, having him stand as well. All the boys were talking and Cosette decided just to yell it out.

"Hey guess what?" She called out. Silence. The boys all turned their heads.

"Marius and I are getting married?" She grinned, a quick kiss on his cheek. Marius was bright red. All of his friends whooped and hollered and patted him on the back, hugged Cosette. Éponine glowered at them from her seat, as she did not feel anything like standing up. If only she could drink through this shit, she thought.

And just like that, she'd had enough. She hoisted herself out of her seat and walked over to say goodbye to Cosette.

"You're leaving already, Ép?" Cosette frowned, lowering her voice.

"Yes." Éponine answered shortly.

"But you've only been here for twenty minutes.."

"Bye. Congratulations." She said as she strode past Cosette and out the door. Cosette sighed loudly and leaned into Marius's embrace.

"What's up her ass?" Grantaire snorted, watching her go out and raising a bottle to his lips.

"I think she felt kind of lousy." Cosette said gently.

"She never stays. She hates us." Grantaire grunted. Him and Éponine used to be close friends, but they had grown apart too. He missed her.

"No," Cosette shook her head quickly, "she's just...going through a rough patch."

"It's been six months." Grantaire pointed out.

"Give her more time. I'm sure she misses you too, but she doesn't like to show it." Cosette reasoned.

"You're back early." Mont remarked from the couch as Éponine walked in.

"They were pissing me off." She snapped.

"Hey, don't snap at me, 'Ponine." He put his hands up defensively.

"I'll snap at you if I want to." She spat, not quite thinking.

"No, you won't." Mont protested standing up and kissing her cheek. She didn't resist him, but still sneered.

"I'm going to bed." She grunted, pushing past him.

"It's seven."

"I'm going to bed." She repeated quickly, slamming the door behind her. Montparnasse groaned loudly. He was pretty fed up with her at the moment, but obviously trying his best to persevere.

A few hours passed as Éponine slept, and eventually Montparnasse joined her in bed.

At three in the morning, Éponine woke up suddenly. She couldn't fall back asleep, but she had no desire to get out of the warm, soft bed. She laid silently, and like she did when she had nothing to do, she was in deep in thought. Lately, as the due date got closer, she had been more and more worried. She knew for a fact that she had the capacity to love this child endlessly, but she wasn't sure about Montparnasse. In addition to that, she worried the environment wasn't all suited for a baby. Montparnasse's line of work wasn't exactly the most wholesome, and she herself wasn't the most wholesome person in the world either. She knew they would end up being the "iffy" parents at preschool. All the other parents would say "oh, look it's that dad with the tattoos all up his arm. He looks like a deadbeat" and stuff like that. Oh, she could just imagine it then. It made her so nervous, just the thought, that her stomach twisted anxiously. She tossed and turned restlessly, until Montparnasse woke up.

"What time is it?" He asked groggily.

"Three." She replied, fully awake, sitting up a little with an exaggerated grunt.

"Why the hell are you up?" Mont groaned, putting his pillow over his head.

"Couldn't sleep."

"Go back to sleep, 'Ponine." He grunted, the pillow muffling his voice.

"I can't!" She whined, laying back down and wrapping her arms around him.

"Go to sleep!" Mont snapped again, wiggling away. Éponine groaned and flopped back down on her own pillow.

"If you don't wanna go to sleep, why don't you go watch TV or something?"

"Eh, I don't wanna get up."

"Éponine." He said firmly.

"Fine, fine, I'll just hoist all eight-hundred pounds of myself out and go watch some fucking TV." She snapped, slowly getting out of bed.

"Good. I'm going back to bed." Mont said sleepily, rolling back over. Éponine trudged down the hall sluggishly and watched TV until morning. Mont sauntered to the couch late, hours after she'd stationed herself there.

"Hey, 'Ponine. Next time don't mess with my sleep schedule." He sneered, though he still sat next to her and put his arm around her.

"Can I tell you something funny?" Éponine murmured, curling up against him.

"Go ahead."

"So Marius got engaged yesterday, right?"

"Marius?" Montparnasse scowled.

"Yeah. And you know what I used to say?" She chuckled.

"What?"

"I'd resort to you when he got engaged." She giggled. Montparnasse laughed.

"Too bad you got stuck with me six months too early." He laughed. "Also, why the hell would anyone pick Pontmercy over me?"

"Pontmercy's not a complete asshole." Éponine shrugged, kissing his cheek.

"Thanks. You're too kind to me." Mont deadpanned, kissing her head. She hugged him tighter. He smiled down at her. He was so glad to see her looking so well. Her cheeks were pink instead of a ghostly pale, yellowish tint. Her face was no lunged sunken, her cheeks didn't stick out as far. She had filled out quite a bit, obviously. He loved looking at her and seeing a healthy woman, instead of sickly girl who might've well have been dead. Now she was really alive. Not that she didn't have the scarring memories, the horrible experiences still behind her. But he felt they weren't overtaking her whole life anymore. Éponine was finally getting what she deserved in his eyes. Happiness.

"You're happy, right?" He asked suddenly, an awkward edge to his voice, unusual for a man of his charm.

"Why?" She asked confusedly.

"Just tell me." He persisted.

"Of course I am. I love you and I love our baby and I can't wait." She beamed.

"For what?"

"The rest of our lives." She murmured with a smile. He grinned. Finally, the light of his light had hers.

"Me neither." Mont whispered into her ear, kissing her lips firmly. She kissed him back, smiling against his lips and laughing her deep, guttural laugh. As they pulled apart, she held on to his shirt and laughed against his chest. Her laugh was for no particular reason, just pure bliss. Her laugh was one of his favorite things. Back when they hadn't been together, it had made him so happy when he made her laugh. He would smile to himself as he walked away.

"How about you, Mont?" Éponine asked, clearing her throat.

"What about me?"

"Are you happy?"

"I'm happy as long as you're here, love." He said with an impish grin. She smiled back at him, content. Everything was going her way, for once. Sure, there were minor hurdles but she wouldn't let them get in her way. She was ready.


	25. Chapter 25

**quick note: so sorry with school starting up again, the updates are a little spotty. And this chapter is a a little short. My apologies, but still, enjoy! :) **

"Don't you want to get out?" Mont sighed, "just a quick walk? You've been cooped up in here for weeks."

"No," Éponine grunted, curling up on the couch. She was getting closer and closer to her due date, now she was only a month or so away. And she was nervous, but excited. But mostly nervous. She was nervous for the baby to come, for obvious reasons, and she hated leaving the apartment now. Not only did she feel like absolute shit most of the time, but she hated being in public like this. What if she saw someone she knew? It would be awful.

"Éponine, please. Please." Mont begged. Éponine groaned and hoisted herself off the couch, standing and looking at Montparnasse expectantly.

"Fine, we'll go." She snapped. He stood up with a sly smile and let her out first.

"Ladies first." He chuckled. She rolled her eyes and waddled out the door. He took her hand as they walked down the familiar sidewalk, the warm air feeling fresh and wonderful compared to the winter that had just passed. She smiled softly and cast her eyes downward towards the sidewalk. Mont smiled at her with that crooked smile of his.

"You look beautiful, 'Ponine," he whispered.

"Ha ha, very funny." She said sarcastically.

"I'm serious." Mont insisted. It was true. He had always thought Éponine shined like a million stars. And it killed him that she would never know, she would never love herself like he loved her. For the time being, he could at least try to make her see his way, couldn't he?

"You're beautiful too," Éponine chuckled in her guttural way.

"I know," Mont smirked.

"You're so fucking annoying." Éponine groaned.

"Hey, hey," Mont teased, "aren't you the one who said we needed to cut back on the swearing?"

"That was- that-" Éponine protested, flustered.

"Whatever you say," Mont sighed, planting a small kiss on her hair. She looked up at him with a small smile as they continued to saunter down the street. A comfortable silence ensued. That is, until the silence was broken completely.

A dirty, tired-looking woman and her young, equally tired-looking, emaciated daughter stood against a brick wall, hopelessly holding out a cup for donations. The daughter's face was tear-stained, blotchy. They recognized Montparnasse first, it took a little longer to recognize the woman beside him.

"Montparnasse?" Azelma called, perking up a bit. He turned his head sharply and took in the view. Madame Thénardier snarled.

"If it isn't my least favorite asshole..." Madame sneered, leaning farther into the wall. She glared at him indignantly, until her eyes shifted to Éponine. It took her a moment to recognize the woman, her own daughter. Azelma was not looking at her sister, but at Montparnasse.

"Éponine?" Madame asked disbelievingly, taking in her pregnant daughter, who stood awkwardly next to Mont.

"What?" Éponine glared. She did not, of course, hate her mother as much as her father. She wouldn't wish death on her mother as she would her father. But then again, her mother had only watched and occasionally thrown in an insult in Éponine's direction as her father had beaten and abused her. She wanted no part of her mother either.

"Who did that to you?" Her mother asked, not piecing together that it must've been Montparnasse all along.

"None of your business." Éponine grunted. But Azelma had put it together. She frowned, looking down at the ground sadly. Montparnasse and Éponine were as official as ever now.

"Jesus Christ, Mom," Azelma snapped, "obviously it's 'Parnasse."

"I see." Madame crossed her arms and pursed her lips, "Whore."

Éponine clenched her fists and started to say something in an aggressive gone, but Montparnasse put his hand on her arm gently, stepping in front of her. Azelma watched his face, which was twisted with anger.

"Don't you ever call her that again!" Mont growled, jaw clenched.

"She's my daughter," Madame answered smugly, "I'll call her what I want."

"Do you want to live to see the sun set, lady?" Mont shouted. Madame stepped backwards a bit.

"Mont..." Éponine sighed softly.

"I'll kill you." Mont threatened.

"No you won't!" Éponine protested, pulling on his arm. He took a deep breath and followed her away, leaving Madame and Azelma behind to stare at the emptiness they had once filled.

Éponine still felt guilty in a way, though. Her mother and sister were begging on the streets, and she was living comfortably with the love of her life, happily expecting a baby. She resented her mother, she did, but what had Azelma done to deserve that? And still, wasn't she still her mother after all? She bit her lip nervously, deep in thought.

"Éponine, why the thinking face?" Mont groaned.

"Thinking face?" She asked distractedly.

"You do the little lip bite thing and the confused face."

"I do not." Éponine protested, jogging a little to catch up with Mont. He stopped and waited for her, then taking her hand.

"You do," Mont said firmly, "are you thinking about your mother? Just forget it, Éponine. She's not going to hurt you. Or the baby."

"It's not that.." Éponine sighed.

"What? What is it?"

"What about poor 'Zelma?"

"She'll get by," Mont waved her off.

"That's not fair," Éponine said half-heartedly, though she didn't have the energy for a full-fledged argument. She leaned into him slightly and he walked slower to suit her.

"Who cares about Azelma?" Mont scoffed. He had never thought much of Éponine's eager little sister. He'd always just thought she was there, but she didn't mean anything. Nothing at all. So he didn't give a flying fuck what happened to her.

"Well, I feel like I'm supposed to." Éponine muttered.

"Don't worry about it. You've got enough to worry about, love." Mont assured her. She nodded silently, pushing the thought out of her head. This thought-pushing finally worked for once.

"Ow!" Éponine screeched from the couch, "Ow, ow!" She winced and writhed on the couch painfully. Mont dropped the jewelry he was inspecting in his room and rushed into the living room.

"'Ponine, what's wrong?" He asked, alarmed.

She winced and gave him a desperate look. "It hurts so much.." And he knew she meant it. He quickly helped her off the couch.

"Should I take you to the hospital?"

"I don't know!" She yelled, "just do something!" She moaned, holding her stomach.

"I-I guess I'll do that then." He nodded unsurely. He rushed her into his pick-up truck.

"Mont, Mont!" She cried. He put one hand on her shoulder soothingly while trying to remain focused enough to drive.

"It's okay, love," Mont cooed, "it's okay. We'll be there soon, really soon." He knew the way all too well from her last hospital trip. He had tried his best to forget about that unfortunate incident.

"I don't know if I'm having the baby right now..or... I don't know?" She said between pants. He nodded slowly and kept his hand on her shoulder.

"I can't be, it's too early," she decided to herself. Mont nodded, not sure how at all to respond to any of this. He was just worried sick. What if Éponine got hurt somehow? He had turned pale at the thought.

"Is it feeling even a little better, 'Ponine?" He asked, brows furrowed.

"A little." She said, still breathing heavily.

"Just breath, love," Mont soothed, "it's okay. You're okay."


	26. Chapter 26

"Is it humanly possible for you to drive slower? I don't think it is." Éponine complained, her voice strained from the pain.

"Do you want to get pulled over right now? Is that what you want, Éponine?" Mont shot back, glancing quickly over to her and back to the road. He didn't mess around while driving. He was overly paranoid, and he didn't know why, about driving and cars. The idea that something could kill him so easily, with just one wrong move with the wheel.

"You drive like an old lady!" Éponine groaned, her face contorting as the pain came back, worse than it had been at any point before. She let out a low cry, writhing around in her seat to get comfortable. It didn't work. Mont frowned and shot another quick glance at Éponine.

"Look, look, the hospital is right there. It's right there." Mont soothed, pointing for a fleeting second. Éponine breathed in and took a shaky breath.

Mont pulled into the parking lot and as soon as the car stopped, sprang into action. He dashed to the other side of the car to help Éponine out and put his arm around her for support as they entered together. Éponine felt sicker as they entered, as this hospital held some rather dark memories for her. She had spent nearly a month stuck in a hospital bed, half the time flirting with death. As she walked in, she shivered a little. Mont could tell exactly what was running through her mind and rubbed her back comfortingly. She looked up at him with a weak smile.

"Who is her doctor?" The familiar nurse asked.

"She..doesn't have one." Mont sighed.

"Um, alright then," the nurse nodded, "we'll put her with Doctor Shaw then..".

As the doctor came to the lobby with a wheelchair, Éponine shook her head. She was not doing that again. The doctor sighed and lead her along, Mont trailing behind.

"You can wait outside, just for a moment, sir." The doctor said, shutting the door behind her. Montparnasse paced anxiously through the hallway, dragging his feet a bit, as he waited. The thirteen minutes he waited felt like an eternity. When he saw a nurse rushing past him, he became alarmed.

"What's happening?" He asked, trying to keep his composure, though he was worried and terrified beyond words. Nobody answered him.

"Excuse me!" He tried again, as another walked towards the room.

"Yes, sir?" The nurse asked.

"What's happening?"

"Ms. Thénardier is going into labor. You can come in if you'd like." The nurse said, his calm and smooth tone doing nothing to calm Mont. His eyes widened.

"Now? That can't be true." Mont shook his head quickly, bounding into Éponine's room. Éponine looked at him, almost apologetically but with alarm apparent in her eyes as well. He rushed to her side, taking her hand in an all-too-familiar gesture. But, he thought, he should push that memory away. That was completely different, a dark, depressing time. This was a happy one. At least, for Éponine it was. He returned her look with a forced smile and squeezed her hand.

"You ready, love?" He asked softly.

She raised her head and nodded quickly. "It will be nothing."

Montparnasse chuckled a little and kept his eye intently on her as the minutes went by slowly.

Hours had passed. Many hours of Éponine pushing, shouting, swearing, offending nurses. This made Montparnasse laugh, if he was being completely honest. She did not try at all to be disarming, yelling and cursing at nurses who got on her nerves. Montparnasse covered his mouth each time. She would shoot him a quick glare and get back down to business, her face contorting again.

At one point, Montparnasse dared to let out a small yawn.

"Shut the fuck up," she turned around to him angrily.

"Sorry, sorry," he sighed, trying to look more alert. She held his hand tightly, so tightly he thought it would fall off, until finally a happy cry came from the doctor.

"I see a head!" She called. Éponine's face lit up. Now she could finally see it was so worth the hours she had spent in distress. She grinned widely and turned to Montparnasse, who found himself grinning as well.

"Everything is going well! Very soon now! Keep going strong." The doctor called again. Éponine nodded and pushed again, harder, squeezing Mont's hand. And suddenly, the doctor's voice was drowned out by loud, high-pitched cries. Éponine took a long, deep breath and grinned, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Congratulations!" The doctor beamed, "on your healthy baby boy." Éponine out her hand over her mouth as tears streamed down her face. As the doctor took the baby away to prepare it for Éponine, she watched her walk away and turned back to Montparnasse. Mont grinned and hugged her tightly.

"You did it! I love you." He grinned, kissing the tip of her nose lightly.

"I can't wait to hold him." She breathed, wiping her eyes.

"I know, love," Mont grinned, "he's going to love you so much."

"And you!" She added, widening her eyes. Mont nodded with slight chuckle. Doubtful.

As soon as the nurse came in carrying a little blue bundle, Éponine shot up and put her arms out.

"Here's your little boy," the nurse said with a smile. The second Éponine looked down at the child, she was in love. More tears flowed down her face as she let out inaudible squeals. She could not take her eyes off of the little angel.

"Mont.." She breathed, "he's perfect." She gently brushed a thin wisp of dark hair off of the baby's forehead, her hands shaking with excitement. Mont couldn't speak, he was overcome with emotion. He was completely bombarded, as he hadn't expected to feel this way. He couldn't take his eyes off of the little guy either. He swatted at the tears welling up in his dark eyes. He never would have guessed he had the capacity to love anyone more than Éponine, but here he was already feeling ridiculously attached. He reached out and touched his tiny little hand tenderly.

"He is perfect," Mont whispered.

"I told you you'd love him." Éponine murmured with a chuckle, rocking the baby gently as he cried.

"Do you want to hold him?" Éponine asked, handing the little bundle to Mont a bit reluctantly. Montparnasse held the baby as gently as he could, which made Éponine chuckle. Tough, muscular, tattooed Montparnasse holding this pure, perfect little boy was a rather amusing contrast. At the same time, it just looked right.

"Hey, little buddy," Mont grinned, more tears welling up in his eyes. "Look at your mommy. Look how pretty she is." Éponine smiled softly, her eyes still set on the little nameless angel.

"What should we name him?" Éponine asked finally after a while more of the little family enjoying each other.

"What does he feel like to you?" Mont asked softly, meeting the eyes of his son.

"I-I have no idea," she stammered, finally taking her eyes off of the boy and meeting Mont's.

"Well we have to pick something." Mont sighed, smiling slightly at Éponine. She looked back down at the baby with a gentle sigh.

"I can't decide right now!" She groaned loudly.

"Well until we decide, his name is Baby Boy Thénardier-Montparnasse."

"I'm fine with that," she shrugged, "it has to be the right one and I can't force it."

"Whatever you want," Mont sighed, smiling at Baby Boy.

"I can't wait to bring him home!" She grinned, though after a few moments her grin faded as she looked down at the little guy.

"Éponine? What is it?" Mont asked, concerned.

"He's so perfect." She breathed.

"Yes, he is," Mont nodded slowly, "but what's the matter?"

"He deserves so much better than me. Look at him, Mont. He's an angel."

"You love him and that's enough. And I love him, too." Mont reassured with a small smile.

Éponine nodded, her bright smile coming back. "Okay, I believe you," she nodded, "I can't believe we all get to spend our lives together. This is the best day of my life."

"Mine too, 'Ponine." Mont admitted, kissing her cheek and taking the little baby's hand, "the first day of our new lives, yeah?"

Éponine nodded, grinning and stroking the baby's wispy hair. She felt completely blissful with her gaze on him.

"Mont?"

"Mm?"

"Now that we've done this, are you going to tell me your first name? I asked you when we were fourteen and you said to wait. I think I've waited."

Mont laughed, "you want to know?"

"I do," Éponine nodded eagerly.

"Okay fine, but you better not call me this."

"I promise I won't," Éponine replied.

"Alexandre.." He mumbled, blushing.

Éponine grinned. "Alexandre? I love it!"

"You aren't allowed to call me that, 'Ponine."

"Can I call him that?" She asked gesturing to the baby. "That's his name."

Mont smiled, "You really want to name him Alexandre?"

"I really do," she grinned, kissing Alexandre on the forehead, and then Mont.

"Well good," he nodded, "I always knew I was worthy of having a child named after me."

"Shut the f-" Éponine stopped herself, "shut the heck up."

"Nice save," Mont flashed a grin.

"I swear, Alex's first word is going to be fuck and there's nothing I can do about it." Éponine chuckled, rocking him gently.

"Oops," Mont laughed with a shrug, "At least he'll be cool."

"Oh god," Éponine chuckled.

"Do we have a name yet?" The nurse asked, opening the door slightly.

"Alexandre," Éponine replied with a smile.

"It suits him so well!" The nurse grinned, walking to the bed. "But I'll have to take him just for an hour, for a couple of tests, okay?"

Éponine frowned, but nodded slowly and handed her son to the doctor reluctantly.

"I miss him," Éponine sighed after a few moments of silence. Mont had been watching the door, waiting for his baby to come back. He missed him too.

"I know, dear, I do too." Mont agreed, putting a hand on Éponine's shoulder.

"Isn't he just the most perfect little angel? I can't believe he's mine." She grinned widely.

"I know. He must've gotten the perfect from me." Mont teased.

"He did, though." Éponine smiled, taking Mont's hand.

"But mostly you, love." Mont smiled back at her. Éponine grinned. She didn't even feel a shred of her usual self-loathing. If she could create something as perfect as Alexandre, there couldn't be much to hate.


	27. Chapter 27

They all stayed at the hospital for two days more, until they were finally told they could go home. Éponine beamed and kissed both of her boys' cheeks.

"It feels so nice holding him out here," Éponine grinned, taking in the warm air, "Isn't it nice out?"

"It's beautiful!" Mont grinned, leaning over the little baby, waving his finger around for Alex to play with.

"I can't wait to bring him home and see him every day," she grinned down at her son, still disbelieving in the best possible way.

"Me neither. He's so perfect." Mont crooned. Another time, this might've felt incredibly stupid to him, fawning over a little human. But now he understood why Éponine had been so excited prior to the baby, and he loved the baby as much as he loved Éponine which he never thought he would say about anything or anyone. Éponine could tell how he felt, and she was thrilled. The only thing that had been worrying her lately was that he wouldn't care about the kid, but it was the complete opposite and that made her smile.

Éponine settled in the backseat, holding Alexandre on her lap since they didn't have anything for him yet. Mont drove, looking perhaps a bit too often in the mirror to see his family in the back. He knew, of course, that Éponine and him probably were not the best-suited parents ever, but he was still elated. Everything was perfect to him, everything in place.

"Nice boy," Éponine cooed, gently rocking Alex, "you're a nice boy, yeah. Good boy." This cooing went on for the rest of the twenty minute ride, but it didn't bother Mont at all. It only made it harder for him to drive, as his grin was making his eyes squint a bit.

As soon as they pulled into the parking lot, Éponine squealed excitedly, which omitted a sweet chuckle from Montparnasse.

"This is so special, Mont! It's his first time home!" Éponine grinned.

"I know," Mont grinned, "I know."

She rushed out of the car, though careful to hold the baby properly. She had never on any occasion been taught how to properly hold a child, but she did what felt natural and it looked right, and the baby didn't cry at all. Which she was a little worried about deep down, but was finally able to push a negative thought away.

"Good thing I bought a crib like three days ago," Mont chuckled, opening the door for a very excited Éponine. She walked over to the couch and sat down, gesturing for mont to sit next to her and Alex.

"Hey, little guy," Mont cooed with a grin. The baby immediately started wailing, which threw Montparnasse off so that he backed up a little. Éponine chuckled a bit at Mont's reaction, but went on to rock the baby gently.

"Shh," she repeated, "Shh, it's okay, baby." Even though she knew babies cried over nothing, the sound of her son's cries broke her heart. She felt like she was going to cry herself. She rocked him, still hushing him and frowning. He continued to wail, just as loudly as ever, despite Éponine's efforts. She sat there, rocking him, her mouth slightly open, her eyes glued on Alex, who still wailed.

"It's alright, 'Ponine," Mont murmured, kissing her head as he stood up, "I'm gonna go check on the nursery. I'll be back in a second."

Éponine nodded. As Mont made his way down the hall, the baby finally let out one last cry and then stopped altogether, putting Éponine's finger in his little mouth. She let out a small squeal-type sound, grinning at Alex, relieved he was finally done crying.

"It's okay, baby," she repeated, holding him closer. He now only let out the occasional cooing sound. "Mommy's here, sweetie." She repeated this a few times, even though he wasn't even crying anymore it just felt right to her, it almost comforted her more than him. Mommy. She was mommy, and she was nothing like hers. She was nothing like the woman who had stood by and watched Éponine be abused for ten years. And Montparnasse would never be like her father, either. He would never hit Alex, he would never consider calling him useless, worthless or trash.

"Hey, Cosette," Éponine grinned over the phone, sitting on the edge of the bed nervously. She didn't know why she was nervous, but she felt weird around her friends now in a way. She felt like being with Montparnasse had sort of separated her from them.

"Éponine! I haven't seen for weeks! How far along are you now?" Cosette picked up almost immediately. She had been sitting by her cell in the first place, waiting for Marius to try on a suit at some men's store.

"I had the baby three days ago," she answered with a soft laugh.

"No way!" Cosette squealed, standing up from the bench she was sitting on and pacing around the dressing room area. "Tell me everything! Is it a boy or a girl?"

"It's a perfect little boy," Éponine grinned. Just thinking about her little boy made her grin stupidly like that.

"Aw, Ép! I'm so glad!" Cosette trilled, gesturing wildly even though she wasn't talking to Éponine in person. She got some interesting looks from other shoppers.

"He's such a little angel, Cosette. You have to meet him."

"I know! I need to meet him!" Cosette smiled. "But what's his name?"

"Alexandre," Éponine said proudly. She thought it best not to mention the namesake, as she was almost positive he had told her to tell nobody.

"That's adorable! Oh, this is so exciting!" Cosette squealed.

"What?" Marius asked, stepping out of the dressing room in a rather ill-fitting suit. Cosette sighed for a moment at the suit, but jumped a little again.

"Guess what, Marius? Guess what?" She grinned.

"I-I don't know," Marius stammered.

"Éponine and Montparnasse had their baby!" She was still on the line with Éponine, who sat and listened with a chuckle.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Marius asked, now smiling.

"A boy," Cosette informed, "Éponine we have to meet him soon! How about today?"

"Today?" Éponine asked, thinking for a moment, "I've got nothing to do."

"Great! Want to meet at our apartment?" Cosette asked, knowing she'd probably never see Éponine's. She knew they were a secretive couple.

"Sure, sounds good," Éponine nodded, hanging up abruptly as she heard Alexandre screaming.

She rushed into the nursery, to see that Montparnasse had entered just moments before and was trying to comfort the boy by cooing and kneeling next to the crib.

"Mont," Éponine chuckled, coming up beside him, as he stood upright. She reached into the crib and cradled Alex until he stopped screaming, smiling softly.

"I assume you don't want to come to my friend's house for them to meet him?" Éponine sighed, looking at Mont exhaustedly.

"I'll come." He shrugged. He wanted to be very present in Alex's life and didn't want to start off on a bad foot, ditching all the time.

"Great," Éponine grinned, handing the baby to Mont gently. She rummaged through the closet for a moment until she found the baby carriage she'd bought five months or so before. She assembled it as quickly as she could, calling Mont out.

"Ready?" She asked, gently placing Alex in the stroller, running into the nursery quickly to grab the blanket to drape over him. She observed her work with a smile and a soft sigh.

She knew the way to Marius's apartment, she had gawked at his window alone many times, however creepy that may sound.

"We can walk from here," she resolved, pushing the stroller on to the sidewalk as they exited the building.

"You lead the way," Mont nodded, trailing closely behind.

"Éponine!" Cosette cried as she threw open the door, wrapping her arms around her friend tightly. Éponine hugged her back with a grin.

"Hi, Montparnasse! How are you?" Cosette asked sweetly, not sure what to expect.

"Hi! I'm good, how are you?" He replied with a smile. This surprised just about everyone, even Mont himself. He was trying very hard to be civil.

"Nice," Éponine muttered to him as she pushed the carriage inside.

"Oh my god, he's so cute!" Cosette squealed, looking inside the stroller, "Marius, come here! Come here! Look at this little baby, isn't he sweet?"

"Very sweet," Marius nodded with a small smile, a little awkward. Cosette put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly, as she knew he was rather uncomfortable with these types of situations.

"He's really great, Éponine." Marius nodded in her direction, gaining a little confidence from Cosette.

"Thank you," she grinned, "I know he is." She reached back and squeezed Mont's hand, her hand warm as he had never felt it before. His was warm, as well. Montparnasse poked his head into the stroller and started cooing softly to the baby, who immediately started wailing. This made Marius jump a little, so that he knocked over his glass of water. Cosette sighed and turned to Marius.

"What happened?" She asked, stifling a laugh.

"It was loud," Marius tried, "I wasn't expecting it". Montparnasse stifled a laugh, doing so rather well under the circumstances.

"It's okay, dude," Éponine whispered as she cradled her son. Cosette smiled at her friend sympathetically, putting her arm around Marius.

"Man, Éponine, Pontmercy is such a loser." Mont laughed as they finally arrived back at their own apartment. Éponine wouldn't have admitted it to Montparnasse, but she was terrified of being in the dark with the baby. Though from what she had heard, her father was still in jail but she couldn't be sure. She could never be sure now, and having someone to care for terrified her, being who she was.

"Don't laugh at him," Éponine sighed, crossing over to the nursery and gently placing the sleeping Alex in his crib, looking down at him proudly.

"He freaked out when Alex cried." Mont teased, following Éponine in and out of the nursery and then closing the door behind him.

"He has anxiety problems." Éponine reasoned, flopping down on the couch, exhausted.

"Hm." Mont answered, sitting down next to her and putting his arm around her. This position felt so familiar, so warm and so right to them.

"You know what, 'Ponine?"

"What?" She mumbled, rubbing her tired eyes.

"We haven't really gotten to do anything in a while.." He started, raising an eyebrow at her.

"And just what do you mean by that?" She smirked, running her hand over his leg.

"You know exactly what I mean." He chuckled, leaning in closer and framing her small face with just one of his hands. Éponine put her hand behind his neck and kissed his lips softly. He kissed her back skillfully, running his hands through her dark brown hair, smirking against her lips. She reached out and grasped the collar of his shirt, pulling him in closer and moaning softly, so as not to wake Alexandre.

"You're bad for suggesting this," she murmured, her lips on his still.

"Am I?"

"There's a fucking baby sleeping in the next room and you want to do this?" She chuckled, putting her legs around him and her other arm behind his neck as well, so she was completely wrapped up in him.

"Well if we're gonna be parents during the day.." He crooned, his lips on hers and his hands both tangled in her hair.

"I like that idea," she smirked as Mont stood up, Éponine still with her legs around him, kissing him feverishly.


	28. Chapter 28

**hello, readers! Thanks so much for reading this fic for the whlie I've been writing it. This will be the final chapter, but I'll be writing a sequel called "There Is a Life About To Start when Tomorrow Comes" about what happens after the end of this story. If you want to see what happens, look out for that fic. Thanks, hope you enjoyed :) **

It had been three months since Éponine and Montparnasse's lives had been greatly improved by that beautiful new presence. The novelty of the baby had not worn off, as Éponine admittedly had worried for the first few months of her pregnancy. In fact, they both felt as if they loved him more and more every single day. Every single day, he did something new; he made a new sound, a new expression, and it was just as beautiful as the day before. Every time the couple would share a moment with their little angel, they would between them exchange a familiar smile. It was a wonderful smile, a one-of-a-kind smile.

Éponine had spent her down time doing as she usually did, which was think. She was used to thinking in a negative way, pacing around and mulling over small unfortunate details of her life, and large ones as well. This was probably due to how her parents didn't care for her or Azelma really after she was ten or eleven. She always had to be the one who worried and who cared, and now she was condemned to being a worrier forever.

But this was a different kind of thinking, a better kind. She thought out everything she would do in regards to her son. What color shirt would he wear on his first day of kindergarten in a few years? What would be the name of his first boyfriend or girlfriend? Thinking about these trivial little details made her feel all warm inside, her distressed demeanor a little more calm. She had earlier worried that being a mother would weigh her down, but it did the complete opposite.

"Mont?" Éponine murmured one day as she sat holding Alex as she watched Montparnasse assemble the playpen they had just bought. He was looking at his building project perplexedly, then turning to Éponine with an exasperated sigh.

"Yes?"

"I don't know why, but I think..I think I miss 'Zelma." She admitted, taking a deep breath.

She had been thinking about her sister quite often lately. She had looked so miserable when they had seen her with her mother months before. She had been stick thin, she'd had big, dark bags under her once-beautiful eyes that were green just like Éponine's. She'd had her second thoughts about supporting her sister sometimes, like how it seemed in some way to her that she derived some sort of pleasure from the life they lead, the crime, the deceit.

"Well, that's natural I guess," Mont shrugged, clambering over to her, putting down his tools.

"What if they're not in town anymore? I haven't seen any of them at all. And I guess that's a good thing, for the most part. But poor 'Zelma."

"Well, you can forget about Azelma if you get the chance to forget about your mother and father too." Mont breathed, not facing her. He was infatuated still with his child.

"But that's not fair to her." Éponine sighed, cradling the baby with a frown.

"You're happy now, 'Ponine. Let it be."

This was not a perfect relationship. Two stubborn, tough, kids from the street couldn't always agree. This lead to loud shouting matches which some people complained about from time, which sometimes lead to cries from the baby. These cries immediately stop the shouting and result in Éponine running away to comfort the baby.

"Fuck, Montparnasse! You're drunk, aren't you?" Éponine shouted, clenching her fists, her eyes furious.

"Jesus Christ, 'Ponine.." Mont slurred, putting his hand on her shoulder sloppily. She shrugged his hand off her shoulder quickly.

"Why'd you do that?" She fumed, taking a step back from him, as he reeked of whiskey and cigarettes. She was mostly furious because she hadn't allowed herself those vices anymore, and it wasn't fair that he got to resort to them. She didn't understand what he could possibly be so depressed about. Everything was perfect, but she could still understand in a way why he felt the need to smoke and drink. The feeling of perfection faded just as the bond between the family grew stronger. Perhaps it was the fact that they were so dependent on someone so young and somewhat insignificant to fuel their happiness.

"'Ponine, baby, I'm s'sorry.." Mont slurred again, wrapping his arms around her neck and placing his lips on her cheek sloppily. She spit in his face, something she hadn't done for almost two years it seemed, not since they weren't more than friends.

"No you're not!" She shouted, turning away from him with a scowl. She put her hand up behind her as to signal the conversation was finished. She didn't want to see him anymore that night.

"Don't you love me?" Mont whined, stumbling over to her.

"Not right now," she groaned, shoving him away from her. She pointed angrily to the outside of the open bedroom door.

"Go sleep on the couch, asshole. You smell like shit." She grimaced. Mont groaned, but obliged, stumbling out the door slowly.

Éponine shut the door behind him and slumped down against the door, her head in her hands. Her long, dark tresses which had been held in a messy ponytail all day, fell out of place and flowed around her. She rubbed her tired eyes, sighing exhaustedly. Nothing would ever be perfect for them, would it? They could love their boy unconditionally, but they would still be themselves and have their baggage. They couldn't give their little gift everything. Maybe they wouldn't be anywhere near as shitty as her parents, but they wouldn't be those perfect parents on TV. She would never be a soccer mom driving an SUV, or a mom coming home in the evening after a long day of work in a beautiful suit, hugging her little guy. Montparnasse wouldn't be that all-around great family guy. She could try to redeem this with her love for Alexandre, but she couldn't keep on doing that. She had to acknowledge there was, indeed, something wrong.

"Éponine.." Mont sighed, poking his head in the bedroom door. He had a pounding headache and a vague memory of fighting with Éponine the night before.

"What do you want, Dad?" She spat, still pretty damn bitter about the night before.

"Dad?" He furrowed his brows.

"Yeah, Dad. I specifically remember my wonderful father doing very similar things..showing up in the middle of the night, wasted. I wouldn't be surprised if you fucking called him a slut and started beating him, either." She spat bitterly, trying to keep hot, angry, tears from flowing down her face.

"Éponine, please," he begged, stepping in her path but not too harshly.

"Don't touch me," she replied coldly. He feels his voice shake, the point of her cold looks very clear to him. He couldn't believe he had done this to her, he could almost feel his heart beating out of his chest. This wasn't happening. This wasn't happening. This wasn't fucking happening. She wasn't going to leave him was she? She wasn't going to take Alex with her, would she? He couldn't. He couldn't even imagine that kind of shit, his world crashing around him.

"Éponine, I'm so sorry," he moaned, his voice shaking, not even trying to stop the inevitable tears.

"Mont," she said evenly, not turning to face him. "It wasn't fair."

"What's not fair, 'Ponine?"

"You don't care. You don't have to care! Do you know how many times I've felt like shit lately? I wouldn't even fucking admit it to myself that I felt like shit, I just wanted everything to be perfect. It never will be. It never will. How is it fair for you to get to go get drunk? I want to! I can't! I give a shit about our son." She shouted, enraged and pulling her clothes out of the drawers wildly.

"Éponine, I care," Mont followed closely behind her, voice shaking so uncontrollably it was barely audible, "I'm sorry I broke, baby. It only happened once. You can have your days, I'll be here."

"Fuck you," Éponine spat, though his argument was valid. She wouldn't let him win this shit, "Fuck this. Leave me alone."

Mont nodded and ran into the nursery where Alex was awake, whimpering slightly. He was absolutely terrified that Éponine would take him with her if he couldn't convince her otherwise about leaving.

"I love you," he whispered, rocking the baby gently, "I'm your daddy, I love you."

"Put my son down," Éponine demanded coldly, evenly, from the doorway.

"Our son," Mont tried to correct weakly.

"Not when I leave your sorry ass he won't be." Éponine argued.

"Éponine, don't you think you're taking this a bit out of proportion?" Mont protested, hugging Alex closer to him.

"No, I'm not. I don't trust you anymore, Montparnasse." Éponine scowled, hot tears running down her face as she crossed to where Mont stood, glaring at him pointedly until he handed the baby to her. She held Alex tightly against her and wiped a tear of hers out of his wispy hair.

"What about everything we've done together, 'Ponine? What about the time I watched you die for a month? What about that, Éponine?"

"Jesus, I'm fucking sorry I was sick. My deepest fucking apologies, Montparnasse." Éponine said through her teeth, her eyes practically red with anger.

"You know what, Éponine? You can't just fucking leave because of this one mistake I made! We love each other, Ép. You're my everything."

"I don't care if I'm your everything, because I don't give a shit about you. See you in Hell, asshole." She closed the door of the nursery behind her, leaving Montparnasse standing alone next to the empty crib.

She made sure one more time she had all of her belongings packed up in black plastic bags, which she stuffed in the bottom of Alex's carriage. She angrily swatted the last of her hot tears out of her face.

"Sorry about that, Al," she whispered, her voice shaking, "We'll get away from daddy. He doesn't love you like I do. We'll go somewhere you'll be safe. Okay, baby? I love you."

The baby replied simply with a sweet little face he always made when he heard his mother's raspy voice. His happy, rather clueless expression killed Éponine inside. She sobbed openly, loudly, so that Montparnasse would hear through the door he remained behind. He let out a loud cry, a growl almost. She could hear him clearly and she let out another loud sob, holding Alex tightly. She could live without Mont. Alex was all she needed to be happy, not to be alone.

"Bye! Go fuck yourself!" She shouted, trying to control her shaking voice as she slammed the door behind her, her son and belongings with her.

And just like that, his angels had both flown away. All that was left of him was doubled over on the floor of the nursery, sobs racking his strong body. He had known all along that Éponine deserved better, Alexandre deserved better. He had always accepted this, but he was never quite ready to let them go, he would always try and clip their wings. But they were gone now. And he was empty. But wasn't that exactly what he deserved.

"We didn't need him anyways," Éponine muttered to her son.


End file.
